Mason Lowe, 5th Period

24 February, 2017

Artificial Intelligence

What is Artificial
Intelligence?
The most basic definition of
Artificial Intelligence is a
computer that can successfully
write its own code.
Resulting in a type of thinking
this product is one that has yet to
be accomplished up to the current
date.
The most stereotypical A.I. is
The recent development of the criteria for new Artificial Intelligence, incorporated into working agents.
depicted as a humanoid robot that
interacts with its environment as
though it were alive and human. My Story, Pertaining to
But in reality, the only major
limitation of an A.I is to be able to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)
think for itself and be able to react My experience with Artificial Intelligence (henceforth
in non-determined ways to its referred to as A.I.) is one that is quite different and in some aspects
environment, much like we as peculiar. At a young age, I was introduced to the concept of robots that
humans do. could think, move, and feel, just like we as humans do. This concept has
The first and most powerful of always fascinated me, and the implementations and potential are
its kind, IBMs Watson is one of staggering.
the most advanced A.I. to date. As I have explored the topic of A.I. both in and out of classroom
Watson has been advertised as settings, I have encountered two different points of view. First being the
being the first computerized aspect of how the development and perfection can benefit the world, and
personal assistant that is capable the second being how potentially devastating A.I. can be to the world and
of much more. economy.
Continues on page two (2)

Artificial Intelligence - Mason Lowe


The most recent and advanced A.I. to date, IBMs
Watson
The 21st Century
Watson
Named after the famed assistant
to Sherlock Holmes, IBMs
Watson is among the first of its kind
and stature. It is the most recent and
most advanced to date. Being
advertised as the start of the era of
cognitive business, Watson has
proven its stature and its precedence
as one of, if not the most powerful
A.I. to date.
Watson is truly one of the most
advanced A.I. of its kind. It offers
much more than a simple business
assistant, it has proven that it has
the potential to assist in tasks such
as taking into account the weather to
do things such as help crops grow
stronger and more fruitful.
With the power of a search
engine, and coding that allows a
certain amount of freedom for the
program to think Watson is able to
assist in the business of bringing
new aspects to the table. This is
accomplished by the use of APIs
and a marketplace that has given the
option of almost customizing the
performance of Watson by adding
specific lines of code that enable or
disable even more specific aspects
of the overall program. This is done
through the system that IBM has
devised has provided a needed
alternative to the common
one-size-fits-all approach with recent
products of many online resources.
Artificial Intelligence - Mason Lowe
My Story Cont.
The position that I take on
the topic of A.I. is one of both
caution and of curiousity. While
I believe that through advances
in the fields that directly
correlate with A.I. there will
come much good and some
much needed change in todays
world. But with the incredible
strides being made with each
passing month, a new question
arises. Where does computer
end, and life begin?
The dilemma and question
that has held back much of the
potential development of A.I. if
a computer were to be able to
think on its own, and be able to
provide for itself, would it be
considered alive? This to some
is a bridge that should be
crossed once the technology is
in such a stage that it would be
an actual possibility. To the
majority of the scientific
community, the bridge should
be crossed as soon as the
issue arises. Meaning that in
this specific case, the question
of whether or not an A.I. should
be considered alive or not is to
be asked and answered long
before the technology is at the
stage where it could be
potentially considered as being
alive.
The Fear of Artificial
Intelligence Advances
Artificial Intelligence, the frightening
and unknown of what might come from
the advances. One of the most
prominent questions about A.I. is the
question of what if we do successfully
create an A.I. that can think for itself,
learn, and eventually have a physical
manifestation. What then? While there
has been much speculation on the
different outcomes, often shown in
various forms of media, such as in movies
like The Terminator or even in video
games such as Halo these are in
essence the two different extremes of the
misconceptions.
For instance, in the big name movie
The Terminator the A.I. that humanity
created developed at such a rate that the
A.I. as a whole determined that humanity
was unnecessary and that the existence
of humanity should be terminated this
showing the darker potential and theories
of developments in A.I. is in strong
contrast with the theory that is depicted in
the popular video game series Halo
wherein the sole purpose of the A.I. is to
protect and serve humanity and to assist
in advances and developments of
humanity as a whole.
While these are only two of the vast
number of theories about the potential for
Artificial Intelligence they are however,
two of the most widespread and extreme
theories and potential outcomes for the
increased outcome of the development of
A.I.
The Predicament of Life and
Artificial Intelligence
The first concept of artificial intelligence is believed to have
begun during the time of myths beginning with the concept of
automatons, realistic humanoid figures that have
consciousness and can think and act as though it were alive
and human. This is believed to be the first concept of the idea
of Artificial Intelligence. Since that time, there have been many
inventors that have strived to create such a figure or being in
the physical and material world. And since the time of the first
introduction of the concept, the question has risen again and
again, whether the machine, assuming that such a machine
could be created and sustain itself, while being able to
simultaneously learn and think, would be considered by the
culture as well as the law as being alive. If so, what would the
limit be? If an A.I. were to create another A.I. would the child
A.I. be considered as alive as well? This seemingly simple
question of whether or not an Artificial Intelligence would be
considered as alive, can spawn countless subsequent
questions, many of which cannot be answered in todays
current day and age.

al-Jazaris candle clock, designed and constructed in 1206 A.D.

The First Inventor of A.I.

The first inventor of the first automaton like figures was Ismail
al-Jazari. al-Jazari lived during the Islamic Golden Age, and
was an inventor of many things, among which being his
humanoid automatons. These automatons were considered at
the time to be able to think. While many of his designs may
seem trivial to us in our current technologically advanced
state, they would have been considered as mind boggling to
al-Jazaris programmable automata of 1206 A.D.
the people living during his lifetime and shortly thereafter.
Many of his automata were programmable of a sort, they
could do different tasks within their design limitations. The
most notable automaton that al-Jazari created was his
revolutionary design of the candle clock, wherein candles
would burn at specific times, and markings would indicate how
long the candle had been burning according to its height in
relation to its starting height. These clocks would have been
used as a sort of timer by the people of the time period.
al-Jazari revolutionized its design by adding a dial, many of
the people of the time began to think of the clock as being
able to think for itself, or at a minimum being able to operate
independently of a user, giving it the status of the time period
as a type of A.I. simple though it may be, and dwarfed in
comparison to the A.I. of today. The candle clock of al-Jazari
would be of the same stature then as IBMs Watson is to us
today.
The Greek-designed Antikythera mechanism 150-100 BC is considered as
the world's first analog computer

Artificial Intelligence - Mason Lowe