Artificial Intelligence

It’s true, the first thing you think of when you think of AI is ET or some other alien type of creature, but this is not what artificial intelligence is. And not is AI a term you might apply to a certain past president who will remain nameless (cough, Dubya). The truth is that artificial intelligence has become a bit of hot topic in the world because it actually has something to offer. When we begin to look at intelligence as something we can apply to non-animals, we can begin to see how intelligence can help us live happier and more productive lives.

Where AI Can Go

If you were to give a machine the intelligence of a human, what would that mean? Well, that would mean that you were able to create a machine that could act and interact like a human might. Though you might know a lot of humans these machines should NOT emulate, there are many more tasks that artificial intelligence could help:

• Medical procedures.
• Communication.
• Task solving.
• Cooking.
• Transportation.

That’s right, beyond Robocop, AI might be able to help us have better lives because tasks that might be difficult for humans to do could be made easier with a machine. Much easier.

What Artificial Intelligence Can Do

Artificial intelligence is being tested and studied right now in laboratories around the world. There are a number of different approaches being taken, but some of the studies are certainly looking at the possibility of AI to:

• Perform surgery.
• Spot terrorist activities.
• Fly planes, drive cars, move trains, etc.
• Solve complex math problems.
• Cut and assemble items.

This is certainly not the most exciting list, but the basic tasks are a starting point. They will allow people the opportunity to not only use machines, but also to begin to trust machines to do what they would normally do for themselves.

The Problems with Artificial Intelligence

As with anything, there are problems with artificial intelligence. As you can imagine, the biggest problem with AI is not what these machines can not do, but what humans can not program into a machine.

• Creativity
• Deduction, reasoning, problem solving
• General intelligence
• Knowledge representation
• Learning
• Motion and manipulation
• Natural language processing
• Perception
• Planning
• Social intelligence

Humans are limiting artificial intelligence because they can’t create the right conditions in which it can exist, strangely enough. We are limited by our own lack of intelligence.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, this is a compelling idea, but a little less exciting in application right now. Until humans can figure out how to see themselves and how human-ness can be quantified and programmed, AI will be limited. But, knowing humans, we’ll figure it out. Slowly.