Main Concepts
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that is dedicated to solving cognitive problems that would normally be associated with human intelligence.
- Such as image creation, image recognition, speech-to-text, learning.
- AI systems are designed to mimic/simulate human intelligence, that could mean achieve similar outcomes than a human, through different mechanisms.
Key Aspects
Artificial Intelligence involves the following elements and processes:
- A Training Dataset: Sometimes a huge amount of existing data, however that’s not always the case.
- The process of Training a Model: with a variety of AI Algorithms and Methods
- A Data Scientist: The person who trains the model with the training dataset
- The User who uses the Trained Model to obtain some response from it.
Examples
- A basic example of an AI model could be a fruit classification algorithm trained on a large dataset of labeled fruit images. A user can then input a new image, and the model would classify what type of fruit it is, even without having seen that exact image before.
- Another practical example: An Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) system. When you have invoice images stored in PDF files, AI can extract data from these invoices for further processing. You could use different AI subdisciplines such as Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, and Deep Learning to understand image features. This is already possible with current services and technologies.
Applications
Areas of application of AI:
- Medical Industry: AI can read medical images such as X-rays to make diagnoses.
- Pandemic Prediction: Agencies such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) use AI to predict pandemics and outbreaks around the world and dispatch necessary medical personnel and resources.
- Games: Games such as chess, Go, and StarCraft serve as research fields for AI breakthroughs.
- Manufacturing Industry: AI uses computer vision to monitor assembly lines and maintain product quality, and analyzes sensor data to predict when equipment needs maintenance.
- Retail: AI uses customer purchase history to make product recommendations.
- Customer Service: Chat solutions and search systems use AI for language recognition.
- Software Development: Developer tools like AI co-pilots provide code suggestions, improving productivity.
- Transportation: AI assists in driving cars and flying airplanes.
Reflection Questions
- What is human intelligence?
- What are cognitive problems?