Artificial Intelligence : Why Should You Care?
So you’ve heard of Artificial Intelligence right?
This couple of words have been bandied around for years now but what exactly is it all about?
Is it the humanoid robot whose sole purpose is to serve human kind?
Is it the humanoid robot whose sole purpose is to destroy human kind?
Or is it just a load of geeks sitting around a computer screen, getting all excited about 1′s and 0′s?
Well, I sometimes wander about this myself and have decided to find out if and how Artificial Intelligence has or will have a place in our lives.
What Is Artificial Intelligence
So let’s start with the basics. What exactly is meant by artificial intelligence?
According to the Oxford Dictionary
the performance by computer systems of tasks normally requiring human intelligence.
Mmmmm…..right…..it sounds much more exciting in the films!!!
Well, then I guess the next step would be to find out what the words mean individually.
Artificial. That’s an easy one right
1 made as a copy of something natural.
And this intelligence thing?
1 the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
3 the gathering of information of military or political value.
4 information gathered in this way.
So, if we put them together we could get a definition something like
a copy of something natural that has the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
Right now we’re getting somewhere.
But it’s just not that simple
And here’s why!
A copy of something natural could mean anything. It could mean a cardboard cut out of a tree.
You have cut the cardboard out and made a copy of the tree. Done.
And the other half of our ‘new definition’ just makes the subject even more hazy.
Acquiring and applying knowledge and skills. Well, you could argue that a speed camera has the skill to gather the knowledge of the passing cars and uses it by giving it to(the often money hungry)local authority.
So if we put them together we have a cardboard tree that can take pictures of cars so they get fined!
Would you class this copy of a tree as being intelligent?
I wouldn’t. Although I’d have to give the local authority that did it a round of applause(unless it was me getting fined!!).
It’s difficult huh?
It’s really not that easy to peer into the world of artificial intelligence and not shake your head a little bit whilst mumbling “Yeah….but….that’s…..ummm….!!!”, but it is possible. It just needs to be broken down into smaller chunks and digested piece by piece like a nice succulent roast pork dinner with mash and yorkies and…..mmmmmmm………!!!!
Sorry…..got lost for a second there.
So over the next few posts/weeks/months/years I’m going to look at this fascinating area of development(and it is fascinating I promise you) and try to make it a bit more digestible.
We’ll look at how it can be decided whether a machine is intelligent. Whether this intelligence exists already or not. Why we would want it to exist and how it will affect our lives.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this(not hugely informative) post and will check back soon for the continuation.
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Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Phil.
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Artificial intelligence is the subject that always fascinates me. I implement quite bit of AI branch – rules based system in my game Blade Thrust Tactics which allow the operatives to make decision in certain situation. Yeah, AI if used properly can make life much easier for us.
Thanks Edy.
You’re absolutely right and it’ll be interesting how it ends up being used on a mass level.
I hadn’t really thought too much about the game side of things, but I think it’s getting used quite a lot in games where the computer characters are to have ‘a life’ of their own.
I will try and include something about the game side of things in one of my follow up posts.
I also had a look at you site. It’s packed full of info and I’m definately going to go back and have a proper look at it when I have a bit more time.
Cheers.
Phil.
i know i’m a little off topic, but i just wanted to say i love the layout of your blog. i’m new to the blogegine platform, so any suggestions on getting my blog looking nice would be appreciated.
Aw, this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this also – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get anything done… Regards…
I thought it was going to be some boring old post, but it really compensated for my time. I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.
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Excellent information here. This interesting post made me smile. Maybe if you throw in a couple of pics it will make the whole thing more interesting.
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