Artificial Intelligence Definition and Concepts

Imagine a world where you could talk to a robot, chat with it, tell it to do something? Oh wait, we already can but not to a level we truly want.

The Definition and Concept

Computers have been in existence since 1975 (computers with real power that is). Powerful as they are, they become undone when it comes to real life situation. Let me explain. Digital computers are based on binary states of 0s and 1s (or ON and OFF). It can make powerful computations at mind-blowing speeds but that's about it. It can do only what it is programmed to do and nothing else. It has a very rigid predefined set of instructions that directs it to start and complete a task. This could be somewhat limiting! When it comes to real-life situations, the ball game changes as almost nothing is predictable. It requires the ability to observe and take the appropriate actions accordingly. This is where Artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play.

Artificial intelligence is a little difficult to define in just a simple sentence. You could say AI is simply just intelligence that is artificial but that is quite misleading. It's not that simple underneath. You see, trillions of operations are executed per second in order to make the user experience better and more fluid. Put more simply, you tell a robot to do something, it doesn't just do it, it has to go through a series of understanding what you just said then acting appropriately. Also, it does this incredibly fast.

A Modern Approach!

Now the most popular form of AI are robots but they could also come as software. Yeah, most phones (if not all) today come with an inbuilt AI. These are Virtual AIs and they are widely adopted by big name brands. Some examples are:

• Google Assistant (Google Inc.)
• Siri (Apple)
• Alexa (Amazon)
• Bixby (Samsung)
• Cortana (Microsoft)

 As you can see, AI had found a way into our everyday lives in a virtuoso form. But highly sophisticated AI can't be built simply through mere software optimizations. Robots such as Sophia or are based on some of the most advanced technology in the world right now but how are they able to act so humanly.

First, it all starts with the power supply. Take, for instance, a normal computer with Intel core i9 is very power demanding and it's not even artificially intelligent. An AI robot requires immense electrical energy from sources such as solar power, hydraulics or high-powered batteries. 

Also needed are AC/DC electric motors. These are needed for linear and rotational motion. Electric motors simply convert electric energy into mechanical energy (opposite of generators). This could be through capitalizing the influence of electromagnetism induced in electrical components.

Thirdly, sensors are one of the most important components of an artificially intelligent robot. They enable them the ability to interact with the environment more fluidly. A sensor is an electronic device that outputs information (either tangible or not) by taking input with respect to a physical quantity. They provide information on real-time knowledge as they register any physical information at the moment it's given and not after numerous processes. There are numerous types of sensors with different applications in the industry today. Some examples are:

Proximity Sensor: It is used to know or measure the nearness or proximity of a physical object.

Temperature Sensor: It basically measures the temperature of an object.

Pressure Sensor: It can output information due to the degree of pressure detected.

Light Sensor: It measures the light intensity or lux from various sources.

IR Sensor (Infrared): It brings output from information gotten by detecting properties of an object in the Infrared wave spectrum.

Motion Sensor: It determines what sort of physical motion is made and responds accordingly.

Some others are Accelerometer, Ultrasonic sensor, Touch sensor, Humidity sensor, Tilt sensor, Level sensor, Color sensor, etc.

The Brain

The most important part and the most difficult to implement is the brain. It is more like a network of computers that makes up a very efficient and effective ecosystem that runs the robot. It is quite similar to the human brain as it also consists of neural networks that learn through a process called "Machine Learning". But unlike the brain, it does this relatively slower. For example, the brain consists of billions of specialized neurons which fire according to the stimuli present but AI does not work this way. It is based on codes (mainly Python) which enable it the ability to learn, start and complete a task.

AI already has a great impact on the society today but it does have its pros and cons.

Pros

It makes life easier: This is maybe the major benefit of artificial intelligence. Like I said earlier, imagine if you could just tell a robot to manage your finances. That makes you less stressed out and worried about your financial budget. Sure we have AI assistants in place today, we have barely begun to scratch the surface that hides the true power of AI.

Error reduction: This is a great advantage in the industry as robots do not make errors! It is literally not in their system ( no pun intended). Unlike humans, robots can do a task over and over again with no trace of error provided all the initial conditions are exactly the same.

Increased efficiency: We humans can definitely work but we are also human. We both doubt get fatigued after long stretches of work but there's the thing with AI and computers, they don't know "tired". They can work endlessly without loss of speed and efficiency. This literally renders the phrase "work hours" totally non-existent and greatly increases efficiency in the industry.

Cons

Mass unemployment: This is by far the major concern of AI and robotics. No one would want to hire a human who could make a mistake (no matter how experienced) over a robot which cannot even make a mistake. This effect will be greatly felt in the financial and banking industry as they deal with numbers of large digits and computers seemingly handle that better than humans.

No creativity: Albert Einstein once said: Creativity is the mind having fun". Here's the problem, AI does not understand " fun". Sure if you ask maybe your Google Assistant to tell you a joke, it probably will but it doesn't understand why it's funny. This is difficult since they won't be able to create if they don't understand the reason for creation. You see, creativity means the ability to create and if something lacks the ability to be creative, there's no development. There's an endless cycle of repetition even if what is being done could be done in a much better way.

Preconceived notions of Armageddon: It would not be fair not to write on this. Some people today believe artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race. They believe that AI will become so intelligent that we would not be able to control them. Hence they'd seize control of us and the whole world. I know these notions sound a bit exaggerated but even some notable persons have had the same feelings. For example, the famous Elon Musk said: "AI is more dangerous than nukes". He also said:  "The biggest issue I see with so-called AI experts is that they think they know more than they do, and they think they are smarter than they actually are. This tends to plague smart people. They define themselves by their intelligence and they don't like the idea that a machine could be way smarter than them, so they discount the idea – which is fundamentally flawed"

The world is growing rapidly. It is changing. AI is proliferating more in our lives. There will come a time where humans cannot help but rely on their AI assistants but does that make us any weaker? 

The human mind is the greatest tool. We make these things what they are and it's only us that can make them better. You see, a world without AI is pretty much the same but a world without the power that is human innovation is nothing.