Introducing AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has had several false starts and stops over the years, partly because people don’t really understand what AI is all about, or even what it should accomplish. 



Discerning intelligence

People define intelligence in many different ways. However, you can say that intelligence involves certain mental activities composed of the following activities:

» Learning: Having the ability to obtain and process new information.

» Reasoning: Being able to manipulate information in various ways.

» Understanding: Considering the result of information manipulation.

» Grasping truths: Determining the validity of the manipulated information.

» Seeing relationships: Divining how validated data interacts with other data.

» Considering meanings: Applying truths to particular situations in a manner 

consistent with their relationship.

» Separating fact from belief: Determining whether the data is adequately 

supported by provable sources that can be demonstrated to be consistently valid.

Discovering four ways to define AI

» Acting humanly: When a computer acts like a human, it best reflects the Turing test, in which the computer succeeds when differentiation between the computer and a human isn’t possible. 

» Thinking humanly: When a computer thinks as a human, it performs tasks that require intelligence (as contrasted with rote procedures) from a human to succeed, such as driving a car.This model relies on three parts_ 

Techniques:

• Introspection: Detecting and documenting the techniques used to achieve goals by monitoring one’s own thought processes.

• Psychological testing: Observing a person’s behavior and adding it to a database of similar behaviors from other persons given a similar set of circumstances, goals, resources, and environmental conditions (among other things).

• Brain imaging: Monitoring brain activity directly through various mechanical means, such as Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Magnetoencephalography (MEG).


» Thinking rationally: Studying how humans think using some standard enables the creation of guidelines that describe typical human behaviors. A person is considered rational when following these behaviors within certain levels of deviation. 

» Acting rationally: Studying how humans act in given situations under specific constraints enables you to determine which techniques are both efficient and effective. 

 AI-Safe Occupations

Teaching children:

» Grading papers

» Using adaptive educational software

» Improving courses based on student patterns

» Providing students with tutors

» Showing students how to find information

» Creating a safe environment for trial-and-error learning

» Helping guide students in making decisions about courses to take and 

after-school activities to do based on their skill set

» Providing students with homework help

Nursing :

A robot can lift a patient, saving a nurse’s back. However, an AI can’t make a decision about when, where, and how to lift the patient because it can’t judge all the required, nonverbal patient input correctly or understand patient psychology. 

Addressing personal needs

You may think that your AI is a perfect companion. After all, it never talks back, is always attentive, and never leaves you for someone else. You can tell it your deepest thoughts and it won’t laugh. In fact, an AI such as Alexa or Siri may well make the perfect companion, as depicted in the movies. 

Solving developmental issues

People with special needs require a human touch. Often, the special need turns out to be a special gift, but only when the caregiver recognizes it as such.

Developing Industrial Solutions

Using AI with 3-D printing 3-D printing began as a toy technology that produced some interesting, but not particularly valuable, results. However, that was before NASA used 3-D printing on the International Space Station (ISS) to produce tools. 

Advancing robot technologies

This book contains a wealth of how robot are being used, from in the home to medicine to industry. The article also talks about robots in cars, space, and under water. If you’re getting the idea that robots are a significant driving force behind AI, you’re right. Robots are becoming a reliable, accessible, and known technology with a visible presence and a track record of success, which is why so many orga-nizations are investing in even more advanced robots.

Creating New Technology Environments

Everyone generally looks for new things to buy, which means that businesses need to come up with new things to sell. 

AI helps people look for patterns in all sorts of things. Patterns often show the presence of something new, such as a new element or a new process for creating something.

Working with AI in Space

Chapter 16 takes you on a tour of what AI can potentially do in space. Even though plans for performing these tasks are on the drawing board, most of them are government sponsored, which means that they provide an opportunity that may not necessarily result in a profit. You also find some business-related research projects. In this case, the business is actually looking to make a profit but may not be making one today. 

The following sections look at space in another way and point to what’s happening today. AI is currently enabling businesses to earn money working in space, which gives businesses an incentive to keep investing in both AI and in space-related projects.