Technology is evolving rapidly, and one of the major indicators of this is the development of artificial intelligence. AI has influenced the way we work and ultimately the way we live our lives. From text-to-video to Chat-GPT.
The way we interact with it will continue to change as AI continues to develop. Understanding how we interact with it today and acknowledging how we could collaborate in the future could help us reap the benefits of AI while also mitigating the risks.
Table of contents
In this article, we’re going to take a look at:
- What Artificial Intelligence is.
- The top 5 benefits of AI.
- The top 5 challenges of AI.
- Google and AI systems development.
Let’s jump straight in.
What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the usage of a combination of computer science and engineering to create machines that can do tasks associated with human intelligence. This could be understanding natural language, learning from experience, and making decisions.
AI can be split into two types:
#1) Narrow or weak AI
Narrow or weak AI refers to the intelligent systems that are designed to solve specific problems or tasks. An example of this would be the lovely Siri and Alexa. The personal assistants with some added artificial personality.
Another example would be the facial recognition software available on most smartphones today. A smart but not so smart solution to added security as it still works fine when your younger sibling wants to use your phone while you’re asleep.
#2) General or strong AI
Narrow or strong AI refers to intelligence systems that can perform any intellectual task a human can. Self-awareness is a key component considered when designing these systems.
An example of strong AI would be humanlike robots that can cook, clean, make complex decisions, and solve problems. Hopefully they develop enough of these to make accessible to the mass market soon.
Another example would be creative AI. These systems create artworks, music and literature that is identical to that of human creation.
The top 5 benefits of artificial intelligence
It is no secret that AI makes our lives easier. Listed below are the top 5 benefits.
Automation
Yes, give the boring work to the intelligence systems. AI can do the repetitive and mundane tasks giving humans the opportunity to focus on the creative and more complex side of the task and/or project.
Efficiency
These systems are simply more efficient than humans are. Machines do not experience things like fatigue. They can work longer hours and can do tasks faster and more accurately than humans.
Predictive analytics
Based on previous events, these systems can predict future events or trends. This is particularly useful in the medical, financial, and marketing industries.
Improved safety
This is a big plus for the industrial sector. Safety is a big concern, and the introduction of AI will help decrease the number of safety hazards humans have to face daily.
Personalisation
Personalising an experience for users based on their past decisions is much easier due to the introduction of artificial intelligence. We are now able to get recommendations on our favourite streaming platforms.
The benefits are covered, but we will need to acknowledge the challenges of AI before we get too excited.
The top 5 challenges of AI
These are the challenges associated with artificial intelligence.
Data bias
Turns out that bias is another human characteristic that AI can learn. If these systems are trained on biased data, they can add to the societal issues by prolonging discrimination and bias.
Limited understanding of context
Artificial Intelligence can have difficulty understanding context. This may lead to unwanted results because of a simple misunderstanding, which could prove to be time consuming.
Job displacement
This is a double-edged sword in the industrial sector. Yes, people may not have to do the dangerous jobs, which means some jobs will be replaced by AI. The more mundane and boring jobs will be replaced too which is not ideal from an employment point of view.
Cost
The implementation and development of intelligence systems could be costly. This is particularly the case with smaller organisations or organisations with low budgets.
Lack of transparency
AI can be difficult to understand because of its complexity. This could make the interpretation of the data difficult too, which isn’t great with regards to decision making.
These challenges don’t seem to deter the efforts of Google to continue to research and develop these intelligence systems.
Google and AI systems development
Google is showing some real initiative in the development of intelligence systems. Some examples would be, Google Assistant, Google Translate, Google Duplex, and their Waymo self-driving project. Yes, there is more.
One of their showstopper research projects is their thought-to-text AI system. Google plans to create a system that allows users to think about something and have it populate as text on a screen.
This technology will be based on speech recognition.
The idea is that it will primarily be used by people with disabilities that restrict them from typing on a keyboard. It is also meant for situations where typing is impractical, like while driving.
If we are completely honest with ourselves, we are probably going to use the system outside those parameters. Purely out of curiosity.
Final thoughts
It would be naïve of us to imagine a future without these intelligence systems. That leaves us with only one option, which is to work through the challenges and exploit the benefits of AI. With the amazing things Google and other companies investing in intelligence systems, the future is bright.
