AI FOR DUMMIES (A Beginners guide to Artificial intelligence)

Whenever we hear of Artificial intelligence, first what comes to your mind? A humanoid looking robot with an intention to take over the world and subject human beings to very inhumane torture? Or a robot that puts you out of a job because it has taken over every aspect of the workforce in your society. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the products of technology that aims to incorporate computer systems, algorithms, and data studies in choice system to exhibit intelligent behavior, learn from activities and solve human problems.

You might want to know why AI (artificial intelligence)? There are several problems that have arisen since man realized the amount of data at its disposal. The jet age is characterized by fast-moving information, hence a lot of data to churn (Big data). It is in maximizing these data that AI is beneficial. Let's look at some examples.

The process of regularly checking your mailbox can be exhausting with tonnes of mails you have to deal with as a business person or professional. It is ideal to note that often times it is easy to miss out on vital mails due to the cluster. This is an example of where AI steps in. With a proper set of outlined algorithms, these mails are filtered into different segments: the inbox and the spam folder. It is easier to find important mails and less important ones. 

In prediction too, you can see that over the years as you grow older, you learn how to predict an individual's age based on their appearance. This is as a result of what you have learned over time. In that same manner, AI also learns from various interactions to give more precise output. So human inputs are very much still in need.

We can group AI (Artificial intelligence) in two categories based on their tasks: Weak AI and Strong AI

WEAK AI

When an AI system is created for specifically one task, it is considered Weak AI. So, say an artificial intelligence system was created to detect error in spelling. This kind of AI system is Weak AI because it is not designed for a wide range of functions.

STRONG AI or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

Strong AI is an Intelligence system that can solve many tasks, such as can be possible with a human being.

If you take a closer look at Artificial intelligence, you'd understand that it seeks to reduce human errors and think just like a human being. But can we say that a system which can perform a specified task is intelligent? What's the metric for measuring intelligence? Is a baby intelligent? 

It is assumed that a baby learns from various inputs and neurons. So, he/she learns to differentiate color with time, learns who is Mama and Papa with time. Similarly, AI can learn from various inputs and interactions.

What is Machine Learning

Machine learning is an aspect of Artificial Intelligence that is focused on how a computer can learn to solve a problem or some problems based on collation of several data inputs. This is called Machine Learning. I won't be hung if I call it the mechanism that allows the AI system to collect data. For instance, a chatbot can learn how to interact with the volume of information it is supplied with. Your first time interacting with the Chat bot might have it ask you for your name and interests. From there hence it begins to interact with you based on the information supplied.

There are various areas which are also key aspects in the study of Artificial intelligence- Machine Learning, Natural language processing (NPL), Deep learning, Robotics, Expert systems, Fuzzy logic.

Share your thoughts with me.