How can artificial intelligence be defined?

Artificial intelligence is the capacity of a computer or robot controlled by a computer to carry out actions frequently performed by intelligent beings. As another example of AI:

  • An artificial intelligence produced by humans
  • capable of acting intelligently without being told what to do
  • capable of logical thought and humane behavior

A layperson with a passing familiarity with technology would associate it with robots. Artificial intelligence is described as a terminator-like figure that is capable of acting and thinking for itself.

If you ask about artificial intelligence an AI researcher, (s)he would say that it’s a set of algorithms that can produce results without having to be explicitly instructed to do so. The intelligence demonstrated by machines is known as Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence has grown to be very popular in today’s world. It is the simulation of natural intelligence in machines that are programmed to learn and mimic the actions of humans. These machines are able to learn with experience and perform human-like tasks. As technologies such as AI continue to grow, they will have a great impact on our quality of life. It’s but natural that everyone today wants to connect with AI technology somehow, may it be as an end-user or pursuing a career in Artificial Intelligence.

How do we measure if Artificial Intelligence is acting like a human?

Even if we reach that state where an AI can behave as a human does, how can we be sure it can continue to behave that way? We can base the human-likeness of an AI entity on the:

  • Turing Test
  • The Cognitive Modelling Approach
  • The Law of Thought Approach
  • The Rational Agent Approach

Let’s take a detailed look at how these approaches perform:

What is the Turing Test in Artificial Intelligence?

The basis of the Turing Test is that the Artificial Intelligence entity should be able to hold a conversation with a human agent. The human agent ideally should not be able to conclude that they are talking to an Artificial Intelligence. To achieve these ends, the AI needs to possess these qualities:

  • Natural Language Processing to communicate successfully.
  • Knowledge Representation acts as its memory.
  • Automated Reasoning uses the stored information to answer questions and draw new conclusions.
  • Machine Learning to detect patterns and adapt to new circumstances.

Cognitive Modelling Approach

As the name suggests, this approach tries to build an Artificial Intelligence model based on Human Cognition. To distil the essence of the human mind, there are 3 approaches:

  • Introspection: observing our thoughts, and building a model based on that
  • Psychological Experiments: conducting experiments on humans and observing their behavior
  • Brain Imaging: Using MRI to observe how the brain functions in different scenarios and replicating that through code

The Laws of Thought Approach

The Laws of Thought are a large list of logical statements that govern the operation of our mind. The same laws can be codified and applied to artificial intelligence algorithms. The issue with this approach, is because solving a problem in principle (strictly according to the laws of thought) and solving them in practice can be quite different, requiring contextual nuances to apply. Also, there are some actions that we take without being 100% certain of an outcome that an algorithm might not be able to replicate if there are too many parameters.

The Rational Agent Approach

A rational agent acts to achieve the best possible outcome in its present circumstances.
According to the Laws of Thought approach, an entity must behave according to the logical statements. But there are some instances, where there is no logical right thing to do, with multiple outcomes involving different outcomes and corresponding compromises. The rational agent approach tries to make the best possible choice in the current circumstances. It means that it’s a much more dynamic and adaptable agent.
Now that we understand how Artificial Intelligence can be designed to act like a human, let’s take a look at how these systems are built.

How does Artificial Intelligence (AI) Work?

Building an AI system is a careful process of reverse-engineering human traits and capabilities in a machine, and using its computational prowess to surpass what we are capable of.  
To understand How Artificial Intelligence actually works, one needs to deep dive into the various sub-domains of Artificial Intelligence and understand how those domains could be applied to the various fields of the industry. You can also take up an artificial intelligence course that will help you gain a comprehensive understanding.

  • Machine Learning: ML teaches a machine how to make inferences and decisions based on past experience. It identifies patterns and analyses past data to infer the meaning of these data points to reach a possible conclusion without having to involve human experience. This automation to reach conclusions by evaluating data saves human time for businesses and helps them make a better decision. To learn basic concepts, you can enroll on a free machine learning course for beginners.
  • Deep Learning: Deep Learning is an ML technique. It teaches a machine to process inputs through layers in order to classify, infer and predict the outcome.
  • Neural Networks: Neural Networks work on similar principles to Human Neural cells. They are a series of algorithms that captures the relationship between various underlying variables and processes the data as a human brain does.
  • Natural Language Processing: NLP is a science of reading, understanding, and interpreting a language by a machine. Once a machine understands what the user intends to communicate, it responds accordingly.
  • Computer Vision: Computer vision algorithms try to understand an image by breaking down an image and studying different parts of the object. This helps the machine classify and learn from a set of images, to make a better output decision based on previous observations.
  • Cognitive Computing: Cognitive computing algorithms try to mimic a human brain by analyzing text/speech/images/objects in a manner that a human does and tries to give the desired output. Also, take up applications of artificial intelligence courses for free.

What are the Types of Artificial Intelligence?

Not all types of AI all the above fields simultaneously. Different Artificial Intelligence entities are built for different purposes, and that’s how they vary. AI can be classified based on Type 1 and Type 2 (Based on functionalities). Here’s a brief introduction to the first type.

3 Types of Artificial Intelligence

  • Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)
  • Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
  • Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)

Posted 
Nov 7, 2022
 in 
IT & Software
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