Just a decade ago, the term artificial intelligence (AI) belonged more to the universe of science fiction and seemed at best a daring for the distant future.
Many situations have changed since then, and, currently, applications and research in this field are growing. Everyone has heard of artificial intelligence, but do you know what this technology is and what it is capable of?
The concept of AI refers to creating machines – not necessarily with physical bodies – with the ability to think and act like humans. Software that can abstract, design, deduce and learn ideas. The objective is usually to facilitate day-to-day tasks, advance scientific research and modernize industries.
The History Of Artificial Intelligence Is At Least 62 Years Old
It is not known for sure when the history of artificial intelligence began, but it is not recent. In antiquity, artificial beings and mechanical men appeared in Greek and Roman myths. Philosophers and mathematicians of various eras have explored the possibility of mechanizing thought. At the beginning of the last century, the idea began to appear in works of science fiction, such as in the play Rossum’s Universal Robots (1920), which introduced the word “robot”, and in the celebrated film Metropolis (1927).
She Is Already Present In Your Life
Virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant are good examples of artificial intelligence in direct contact with users. But smartphones, computers, and other gadgets also run on AI in many different ways, starting with Google.
Artificial Intelligence Is Not The Same As Machine Learning
It’s not hard to find the two terms used synonymously, but the truth is that machine learning is just one part of artificial intelligence. “Machine learning” is an AI application that is widely used today, where a program accesses a large volume of data and learns from it automatically, without human intervention. This is what happens in the case of Netflix and Spotify recommendations and facial recognition in Facebook photos, for example.
The Rise In Mass Data Collection Has Boosted AI
It is even a cliché to say that the volume of information produced by people has been growing exponentially with the rise of the Internet, especially in recent years, with social networks. But this is the central idea to understanding Big Data, a massive set of data that serves as the basis for learning the most diverse software, such as machine learning.
This data revolution has favored the artificial intelligence landscape. Researchers and companies have gained more motivation to look for intelligent, automated ways to process, analyze, and use data with more information available.
Google, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon And Other Companies Formed An AI Research And Advocacy Group
In 2016, major corporations from the tech world, including Google, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon, created the “Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society”. The group says it wants to advance research and defend ethical implementations of artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence Will Replace Humans In Many Jobs
The fear that machines will steal human beings’ jobs is not new, and it is well-founded. According to consulting and auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), by 2030, robots will replace 38% of jobs in the US, 30% in the UK and 21% in Japan. The transportation, warehousing, manufacturing and retail sectors will be the most affected.
Experts Believe Artificial Intelligence Will Reach Human Capability In Less Than 25 Years
Some experts believe that AI is still in its infancy and has a long way to go. Others, however, guarantee that there are only a few years left to arrive at the technological singularity when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence.
She Is Already Better Than Humans At Some Tasks
There are no predictions of when artificial intelligence will reach the human level, but robots are already better than us at specific tasks. For example, in 2011, IBM Watson beat humans in Jeopardy!, the famous American question-and-answer program. After that, AI continued to develop, and today it can make cancer diagnoses more accurately than doctors. Its hit rate is 90%, compared to 50% for humans.
Big Names In Technology Are Worried About The Consequences Of This Advance
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has spoken several times publicly that he believes artificial intelligence could one day become a threat to people and even put an end to humanity. The businessman is enthusiastic about the most advanced technologies but emphasizes the need for regulation in AI and would like autonomous weapons to be banned. Weapons operated by intelligent software are already a reality in some governments.
Roko’s Basilisk Is A Terrible Hypothesis About AI
There is a terrifying thought experiment known as Roko’s Basilisk. The idea is that, in the future, a powerful artificial intelligence can torture everyone who didn’t help it in some way to be created. Just knowing about the basilisk, as you are doing by reading these words, would put someone in danger, as the AI would include such a person in its simulations.
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