Skip to main content

Artificial Intelligence

Google taps chipmaker Movidius to add machine learning to phones ...

Artificial Intelligence  – It’s your time to innovate the future

Have you ever thought what would our lives be like in a world without Artificial Intelligence? Or without computers? Recall how you spend an average day of your life- you get up, then you check your smartphone. You reach your workplace, and then start working over the internet.
Remember, most of your work takes place over cloud computing and other services the internet provides. Now picture that you have to look for an answer to something. For how long and in how many books are you going to keep searching for the answer? Let’s take another example, you come back home and decide to order food online. Who really places the order if you are behind the screen? Before going to sleep, you probably use a voice to text assistant that’s present in your phone to set an alarm for the next day. We can’t imagine living without all that now, can we?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

You might be thinking what exactly is artificial intelligence? One might say that it is the ability of computers to think and act like humans. In a very simple language, yes, it is just that. But there’s more to it. Let’s explore artificial intelligence in detail.
Artificial intelligence, as known as AI, is the imitation or cloning of human intelligence, that allows machines, more specifically computer systems, to perform in an extremely intelligent manner. What exactly does it do then? So basically, an artificially intelligent system perceives its environment in a manner that helps its analytical self in maximizing its chances of success. John McCarthy coined the term in 1956 and was defined as the science and engineering of making intelligent machines. It emphasizes on developing machines to think and work just like humans.

The Need for Artificial Intelligence

Why do we even need artificial intelligence? This question would have definitely arisen in your minds by now. Well, humans are a lazy species. We would love to live in a world where there is minimal human labour and thus we are able to save ample amounts of time. Also, the data we are producing is in huge chunks. We as humans need something that processes and handles data to minimize the strenuous efforts being put into handling it. This processing and handling of data is called data science. Data Science, in simple words, is the scientific study of data, that stores, records and analyses data for our benefit. Now AI brings in a new perspective towards managing problems and solving them.

Classification of Artificial Intelligence

There are two classifications of Artifical Intelligence-
  • Weak AI or Narrow AI
  • Strong AI or General AI
Shailesh Appukuttan : M.Tech 1st Year CS344 Seminar - ppt downloadAn AI can be strong or weak, depending upon the amount of tasks it can conduct. A Weak AI, also called Narrow AI, is a system that is designed to handle just one particular task. Speech recognition can serve as a good example of a weak AI. The programming is such that it is only able to identify spoken words & phrases and convert them into a machine-readable format.
In contrast, we can apply a Strong AI or a General AI to accomplish a variety of tasks, as well as learning and improving itself. For example, AlphaGo is a computer programme that plays the board game Go. It learns, and improvise itself according to situations arising in the game and has beaten Lee Sedol- a South Korean professional gamer. There is believed to be a third category, apart from Strong AI and Weak AI, Artificial Super Intelligence. ASI refers to the time when the capabilities of computers would exceed that of humans- now this is the situation I was talking about in the beginning.

Types of Artificial Intelligence

Arend Hintze, an assistant professor at the Michigan State University, classifies AI into four types:
  • Reactive Machines
  • Limited Memory
  • Theory of Mind
  • Self Awareness
types of AI in Artificial intelligence tutorial

1. Reactive Machines

Reactive machines do not store memories or learnings from past experiences. They simply react to the surroundings and choose the most optimal solution amongst available alternatives. It cannot infer from its prior experiences to build on. We all remember IBM’s DeepBlue, a chess-playing supercomputer, which defeated international grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
DeepBlue is capable of identifying pieces on a chessboard and even can predict what could be the next move of its opponent. It can also choose from the next possible moves, however, it is unable to retain any memory and bring past experiences into the picture while making decisions- which means that previous moves will not affect its future decisions.

2. Limited Memory

Limited memory machines retain data in a transient manner; meaning that its memory lasts for a short period of time, much like a goldfish, haha! Erm…shh, computers are more intelligent now! Let’s not make fun of them! Coming back to the point, such a system can use experiences occurred in the recent past to inform future decisions.
However, it cannot add these ‘experiences’ to its database or library. For example – a self-driven car stores the speed and pattern of changing lanes, etc of cars around it, and navigates on the basis of this data. However, perpetual storage of these observations does not occur
3. Theory of Mind

With theory of mind, we can say that it’s the type of AI that is yet to exist. The purpose behind building such an AI is to have computers that can simulate human emotions, beliefs, and desires, that impact future decisions. It relates to the understanding of the world that other entities also have thoughts, memories, and feelings. For two individuals to be able to work together, they need to have some sort of interaction between them.
AI systems will interpret in the future that humans have expectations as to how they should be treated. Isn’t that great? Most computers today use various models to drive their behaviour, but one with a mind of its own is yet to exist. Researchers are developing Bellhop Robot for hotels, which will predict the demands of people who intend to stay in the hotel.

4. Self-Awareness

What is all this meditation and spiritual stuff in the midst of artificial intelligence now? To answer that, let’s first understand self-awareness. When an individual has conscious knowledge of their character and their own feelings, he/she becomes self-aware.
An AI is self- aware when it is able to form representation about itself, and thus, be conscious about itself. A self- aware machine will understand its current state and use the information to infer the emotions of others. AI researchers and enthusiasts believe that this can prove to be the ultimate goal of AI development. Once this is achieved, AI will operate like a human and start predicting its own needs and demands and start thinking of others as an equal. Such an AI does not exist yet. Guess the only thing that won’t have feelings now is rocks then? Lol.
If you have any queries related to artificial intelligence tutorial till now, mention through comments.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence

AI, my friends, is not in the near future now. It is right here, right now. It is lurking behind your screens as you are reading this article, and will probably suggest you more such articles from now on. Artificial Intelligence is not just limited to personal assistants or OTT platforms but is relevant to a number of aspects of our day-to-day lives.AI applications - AI tutorial

1. AI in Automobiles

AI is now advancing towards driverless cars. These cars have incorporated systems that are useful in applying brakes, changing lanes, navigation, and many more. Such cars interpret the pattern in which other cars are moving and try to imply that in themselves. It is also being worked on in the insurance sector, which can help in fast and more efficient filing of claims and insurances.

2. AI in Business

A firm can use AI-based solutions by determining what are the weaknesses and strengths and use these solutions to deduce its financial, production-related and CRM and other objectives. It helps in automating tasks that in turn save an awful lot of time and man-power.
McDonald’s is one such example of AI being used in businesses, as it is focusing on elevating customer experience by analyzing trends in which a customer places order- like a hot plate of french fries on a cold winter evening, or an iced coffee on a hot summer afternoon. It has also introduced kiosks or interactive terminals, where customers place orders over a machine by themselves, instead of a cashier making the inputs. This has proven to reduce errors and increase sales.

3. AI in Education

AI can deliver a better learning experience by adjusting learning as per the needs of each student, and provide universal access to students. It can also automate grading systems. AI can also provide additional support to the students, as required.

4. AI in Finance

Personal finance applications, as the name suggests, collect personal data and provide advice and suggestions related to the user’s finances. Such software even do most of the trading in stock markets.

5. AI in Gaming

AI generates alternatives in a video game on the basis of the decision we take in the game. These decisions include player movements, taking cover, pathfinding, etc. Video games like Minecraft, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, etc use AI-based programming.

6. AI in Government

Governments have started honing AI to make suitable policies and services. Governments can use AI to counter natural disasters, road accidents, and many such problems a country may face. With the aid of AI-based applications, developers are trying to bring about a change in the way the public sector works. Such apps can reduce costs and errors, save employees from mundane tasks and also help in clearing out backlogs.

7. AI in Healthcare

AI is proving to be extremely useful by assisting doctors and thus improving the recovery and mortality rate of the patients. Some AI applications include chatbots, which answer and assist patients to schedule appointments, aid in the billing procedure and also provide medical feedback.

8. AI in Manufacturing

A manufacturer can enhance its production quantity and quality by applying AI to forecast future demand and supply, production planning, material movement, assembling the parts, and all such activities involved in manufacturing.


Chandrashekar DP
Data scientist @ Quantums.ai

Comments

Post a Comment

Chandrashekar DP