ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – THE MORE WE KNOW IT, THE LESSER WE SEEM TO KNOW ABOUT IT

Does life mirror fiction? Or is it the other way around?

- Priya Dronadula

Artificial Intelligence is breaking all myths and suspending beliefs! Actions that were once upon a time considered dependent on human intelligence are today performed by machines with inbuilt and self-learning intelligence. AI has now become an inevitable part of our daily life, right from switching on lights to suggesting routes based on traffic conditions and even recommending best food options based on our dietary needs, effectively conquering every part of our life from personal space to workspace and beyond.

So how do we differentiate between computer programs and AI? What is the line that differentiates both? Is AI a slightly sophisticated computer program? Not really, because a computer program tells the computer exactly what to do whereas AI teaches the computer how to learn and make its own decisions.

A majority of AI applications that we see today are Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) where the machine is able to mimic human behaviour considering a defined or narrow set of parameters in a context. Narrow or weak AI systems, commonly used nowadays, are usually limited to specific tasks, such as voice and speech recognition, search recommendation engines etc and include virtual assistants such as SIRI.

The next level of evolution for AI is to move to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) which is more advanced where an AI machine’s action is indistinguishable from that of a human. Strong or general AI is one able to find solutions without human intervention if presented with multiple and unfamiliar tasks. AGI is more a fiction today.