The first thing that comes to mind when we hear the term
Artificial intelligence is, what exactly is AI? We see computers workaround for
us all the time but we don’t truly understand what AI actually is and how it
works, so read along to find out.
The purpose of Artificial intelligence is to give
machines, especially computer systems the ability to simulate human
intelligence processes. What is often referred to as AI is nothing more than
machine learning when only one component among many others that AI has.
Python, java, etc. are some of the popular programming
languages which are used to write machine learning algorithms that serve as the
foundation to build specialized software and hardware required by AI to achieve
specific goals it has been programmed to do.
Ai works by gathering large amounts of data, analyzing
them to find patterns and correlations present, and subsequently using them to
make predictions about the future as accurately as possible. For example, an
image recognition tool can be fed millions of images to look for certain
objects present in it. the perfect example of AI is the mars curiosity rover, as it is on an entirely different planet collecting samples analyzing them and sending the results back to earth.
Categories of AI
AI can be categorized in two ways i.e. weak or
strong
- Weak/narrow
AI is usually designed and trained to complete a
particular task for e.g. Apple’s Siri is a really good example of a
software program that uses weak AI.
- Strong
AI also referred to as Artificial General Intelligence
(AGI), is used to perform tasks that require cognitive abilities to do so.
The tasks performed by them tend to be much more complex in nature. A really
good example of software that utilizes a strong AI can be found in
self-driving cars, hospital operating rooms, etc.
The four types of AI
There are mainly four types of AI which can range from
intelligence systems that are task-specific and widely in use all around the
world to sentient systems which have not yet been developed.
1) Reactive machines- they are the
most basic type of artificial intelligence. It uses algorithms that enable it
to give optimized output, which will be the same if the inputs are identical.
For e.g. Chess-playing AIs are based on reactive AIs.
2) Limited memory AI- they are the
type of AIs that have the ability to utilize past experiences to improve their
future decisions but they can store limited amounts of data and have a
relatively short length of memory. For e.g. self-driving cars are the best
example of a machine that utilizes limited memory AI.
3) Theory of Mind AI- this type of
AIs has social intelligence enabling them to understand human emotions. They
will be able to understand human emotions and have the ability to predict
behavior which can be extremely helpful in making a Chabot that could
potentially have the ability to even fool humans into believing that the Ai was
an actual human being. The only thing they lack is that they are not
self-aware.
4) Self-aware AI- this is the
future of artificial intelligence, these machines will have their own
consciousness, sentiments, and will be self-aware and will be a lot like us
humans in terms of emotions behavior patterns, etc. a lot of scientists believe
that AI will never become self-aware or as one might say ‘Alive’.
Applications of Artificial intelligence
1) AI in healthcare
With the availability of large and complex data in
healthcare implies that Artificial intelligence will be used to process and
analyze it to help us in many ways. One of the most useful and common
applications of AI will be in diagnosis and treatment recommendations. IBM
Watson is one of the best-known healthcare AI software which can mine a
patient’s data and data from other sources to formulate a hypothesis and it
even gives it a confidence scoring scheme as well.
2) AI in business
AI is the best thing to happen for business owners
because AI can help you automate the routine tasks which would normally take
hours to do and it can do it with great accuracy too. Not only routine tasks
but AI can also be used to analyze and interpret data which can be very useful
for analyzing customer behavior to help you improve your marketing strategies
and it is extremely cost efficient as well.
3) AI in finance
AI can be used by individuals to help manage their
personal finances and can also be used by financial institutions to manage and
analyze large amounts of data. These types of software can help to conduct
fundamental and technical analyses on different companies and funds by
automatically taking information from their balance sheets. these types of AI software
are also capable of executing trades on the stock exchange on behalf of you and
with greater accuracy and results as they remove the emotional aspect which
would affect your trades if you execute them by yourself
4) AI in law
AI in law can help save hundreds of man hours which are
spent sifting through documents and analyzing them manually for discrepancies
by automating this process. This helps to make the entire process a lot more
efficient, time-saving and improves customer service.
5) AI in manufacturing
In its early stages of development, AI was only being
used to perform a single task and still required some form of human
intervention at all stages of the production process but, with the recent
advancement in technology, entire production lines can now be replaced by AI
machines and the whole process can now be automated as the AI is now capable of
multitasking. It can now produce and assemble the product all while performing
quality checks on each and every product which was simply not possible earlier
when the human workforce was used for everything.
