Definition - What does Artificial Intelligence

(AI) mean?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer
science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent
machines that work and react like humans. Some of
the activities include:
Speech recognition
‘Learning’
Planning
Problem solving
Robots, machines, and forms of artificial intelligence
have inspired excitement and hope, as well as …
fear and dread and a pessimistic view of the future
since at least the 19th century. Often highly emotional
and sensational particularly in the novel and at the
movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lrkFkvQWns
Jerry Kaplan has written “Humans Need Not Apply a
guide to wealth and work in the age of A.I.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwznnFBym8&
ab_channel=LuissGuidoCarli
One of the challenges has always been to develop an
operational definition of what intelligence is.
Without this definition, it is impossible for AI
researchers to determine whether they have
succeeded in creating an intelligent system or not.
The main lesson learnt from early research in AI is
that it is very hard for computers to do what is easy
for humans.
However, Artificial intelligence has gained an
incredible momentum in the past couple of years.
The current intelligent systems have the capability of
managing large amounts of data and simplifying
complicated calculations very fast.
But these are not sentient machines.
AI developers are trying to develop this feature in the
future.
It is expected/feared, in the coming years, AI systems
will reach and surpass the performance of humans in
solving different tasks.
Today, we have some examples of the limits of
Artificial Intelligence to replicate human ingenuity,
emotional and artistic creativity:
Computer scientists at Microsoft Research Asia are
working on designing AI that attempts to mimic the
depth and creativity of poetry using images as a
source of inspiration.
We’ve all looked at a beautiful sunset and some of us
have even been inspired to write (good or bad) poems
as a result. Can machine learning replicate this?
Here’s what this creative AI wrote after “seeing” a
typical wintry countryside scene:

“Sun is shining,
The wind moves,
Naked trees,
You dance.”
Irish Times, 27/10/18.
A portrait created by AI in 2018 sold for $432,000. But
is it really art?
An image ‘Edmond de Belamy’, created by a
computer, has been sold at Christie’s. But no
algorithm can capture our complex human
consciousness.
Is this the future AI art visionaries, who programmed
this “painter” by getting it to compare its own work
with 15,000 pre-20th century portraits, have in mind?
 Or are they just making a ‘fast buck’ from gullible art
collectors? (The Guardian, 26/10/18)
By 2021, we can see that different types of AI have
emerged to assist other artificially intelligent systems
to work smarter.

So, what are these different types of Artificial

Intelligence that have emerged or are in the process
of emerging, or will be expected to emerge in the not
too distant future.
In 2021, we can classify A.I. into 4 distinct types.

These are:
Reactive Machines
Limited Memory
Theory of Mind and
Self Aware
We are currently well past the first type and actively
perfecting the second.

At the moment, the third and fourth types exist in

theory. They are to be the next stage of A.I.
Reactive Machines AI
The fundamental types of artificial intelligence
systems are quite reactive and they are not able to use
previous experiences to advise current decisions and
to configure memories.
IBM’s chess-playing computer called Deep Blue
defeated Garry Kasparov in chess in the late 1990s, is
one example of this type of machine.
In the same way, Google’s AlphaGo defeated the top
human Go experts but it can’t assess all the future
moves. It represents an advancement on Deep Blue.
Limited Memory AI
Limited memory AI is used in self-driving cars. They
will detect the movement of vehicles around them
constantly.
The static data such as lane marks, traffic lights and
any curves in the road will be added to the AI
machine.
This helps autonomous cars to avoid getting hit by a
nearby vehicle. It will allow an AI system to make
considered decisions in self-driving.
Theory of Mind AI
Theory of mind artificial intelligence is a very
advanced technology.
The theory of mind represents the understanding of
people and things in the world that can have
emotions which alter their own behaviour.
Still, this type of AI has not been developed
completely. But research shows that the way to make
advancements is to begin by developing robots that
are able to identify eye and face movements and act
according to the looks.
Self-aware AI
Self-aware AI is a supplement of the theory of mind AI.
This type of AI is not developed yet, but when it
happens, it can configure representations about
themselves.
It means particular devices are ‘conscious’ and are
tuned into cues from humans like attention spans,
emotions and also able to display self-driven reactions.
Problem is that consciousness is very hard to define,
one test for self-awareness is the Mirror Test which we
know at least some animals pass
Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)
ANI is the most common technology that can be
found in many aspects of our daily life.
We can find this in smartphones like Cortana and Siri
that help users to respond to their problems on
request.
This type of artificial intelligence is referred to as
‘weak AI’. Because it is not strong as we need it to be.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
This type of artificial intelligence systems work like
humans and is called as ‘strong AI’.
Most of the robots are ANI, but few are AGI or above.
Pillo robot is an example of AGI which answers to all
questions with respect to the health of the family.
Asimo, developed by Honda, is regarded as the most
advanced robot, with strong humanoid appearance
and mobility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUR43YlRbsw&a
b_channel=aroundtheworld
Most discussions of AI and most calls for an ethics of
AI assume we will have no problem recognising it
once it emerges.
This could be problematic as there will be no ‘bolt of
lightning’ moment when a ‘Maria’, of Metropolis
dramatically appears
Intelligent brains are built up from billions of
neurones that are not themselves intelligent
Insects such as ants have no individual intelligence,
but colonies of ants exhibit intelligent behaviour
But, like insects, the smartest computer cannot make
ethical choices, because, it is stated “it has no purpose
of its own in life” (handout)
And the program that can play Go to the level of a
master, cannot drive a car like the Google car.
These are classified as ‘narrow’ forms of artificial
intelligence – they can be applied to one dedicated
task
The real goal/threat(?) is general artificial intelligence
– forms that can ‘reason’ for themselves
But what scares people and creates the hyperbole
around A.I. is the idea that we are constructing
machines that will think for themselves, keep secrets
from us and use their information to their own
advantage rather than ours.
Eliza’s latest successor, Xian’er, the Worthy Stupid
Robot Monk, functions in a Buddhist temple in
Beijing, where it dispenses wisdom in response to
questions asked through a touchpad on his chest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAvYuSpCP9o
Modern AI research focuses on using large datasets
and machine learning to get the computer to learn
the appropriate rules for a domain.
The field of deep learning is very much at the core of
this type of data driven/machine learning AI.
Nearly all of the recent headlines relating to AI
breakthroughs in image, speech and language
processing, autonomous cars, and computer games
are based on deep learning.
Prof Stephen Hawking has warned that the creation of
full artificial intelligence could threaten the existence of
humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFLVyWBDTfo
While Hawking is possibly correct in this view, the
likelihood of full artificial intelligence coming into
existence in the near future is reportedly very small.
A more imminent challenge posed by AI for modern
societies is deciding how much autonomy we wish to
invest in these systems
Frequently an argument is made that these systems
are objective and fairer because the decision making
processes are learned from data.
The problem with this reasoning is that AI systems
are amoral and simply extract the patterns in the data
rather than being objective.
Consequently, the system will replicate and reinforce
that society’s prejudices unless tremendous care is
taken in the design and sampling of the data sets.
A very recent emergence of a form of artificial
intelligence is generating grave concern
“You thought fake news was bad? Deep fakes are where
truth goes to die” – The Guardian; 12/11/18
Fake videos can now be created using a machine
learning technique called a “generative adversarial
network”, or a GAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ54GDm1eL0
Advantages:

Dealing with mundane tasks

Faster decisions

Avoiding errors

Taking risks on behalf of humans

Disadvantages

Job losses

Distribution of power

Lack of judgement calls

So, is ‘Artificial Intelligence’ really a threat?
Do you think that artificial intelligence is just a
futuristic concept that is unlikely to ever affect
humans?
World Economic Forum study in 2016 predicted that
around 5.1 million jobs will be lost to artificial
intelligence over the next five years alone, across 15
countries.
Clearly, artificial intelligence has massive potential.
The key, however, will be to ensure the “rise of the
robots” doesn’t get out of hand.