Essay on Artificial Intelligence

o Introduction: What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence is a combination of two words Artificial and Intelligence,
which refers to man-made intelligence. Therefore, when machines are
equipped with man-made intelligence to perform intelligent tasks similar to
humans, it is known as Artificial Intelligence. It is all about developing
intelligent machines that can simulate the human brain and work & behave
like human beings.

We can define AI as, "Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer

science that deals with developing intelligent machines which can
behave like human, think like human, and has ability to take
decisions by their own."

With AI, machines can have human-based skills such as learning, reasoning,
and solving logical problems.

AI is one of the fastest-growing technology that is making human life much

easier by providing solutions for complex problems. It has also brought
different opportunities for everyone, and hence it is a very demanding
technology in the market.

o History of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is assumed a new technology, but in reality, it is not
new. The researchers in the field of AI are much older. It is said that the
concept of intelligent machines was found in Greek Mythology. Below are
some keystones in the development of AI:

o In the year 1943, Warren McCulloch and Walter pits proposed a model
of Artificial neurons.

o In the year 1950, Alan Turing published a "Computer Machinery and

Intelligence" paper in which he introduced a test, known as a Turing
Test. This test is used to determine intelligence in machines by checking
if the machine is capable of thinking or not.

o In the year 1956, for the first time, the term Artificial Intelligence was
coined by the American Computer scientist John McCarthy at the
Dartmouth Conference. John McCarthy is also known as the Father of AI.

o In the year 1972, the first full-scale intelligent humanoid robot,

WABOT1, was created in Japan.

o In the year 1980, AI came with the evolution of Expert Systems. These
systems are computer programs, which are designed to solve complex
problems.
 o In the year 1997, IBM Deep Blue beat world chess champion Gary
Kasparov and became the first computer to defeat a world chess
champion.

o In the year 2006, AI came into the business world. World's top companies
like Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix also started using AI in their
applications.

o Advantages & disadvantages of AI

Advantages:
o One of the biggest achievements of Artificial Intelligence is that it can
reduce human error.

o AI can be very helpful in risky situations where humans can't reach or find
difficult survival. Such as exploring the deepest part of the sea.

o With AI, 24*7 support can be provided to the customers using chatbots as
customer care.

o Repetitive actions can be boring for human beings, but with AI-enabled
machines, they can be performed with full efficiency.

o It is very helpful in daily activities, such as Google Assistant Alexa, and

other virtual assistant technology are helping to make our life easier.

Disadvantages:
o The development and maintenance of AI systems are very expensive.

o The dependencies of human beings on such technologies making humans

lazy.

o There is always a fear with AI that if it gets advanced, it may be harmful to

humanity.

o If inputs are not fed correctly to AI systems, then it may cause harmful
results.

o Types of AI
 o On the basis of Capability, AI can be divided into mainly three
types:
1. Narrow AI or Weak AI: Narrow AI or Weak AI is a basic kind of Artificial
Intelligence, which is capable of completing dedicated tasks with intelligence.
The current version of AI is narrow AI.

Narrow AI can only perform the specific task and not beyond its limitation, as
they are trained for one task only. It is programmed to do a specific task such
as Play Chess, Checking Weather, etc.

2. General AI:

Artificial General intelligence or "Strong" AI defines the machines that can

show human intelligence. We can say, Machines with AGI can successfully
perform any intellectual task that a human can do. This is the sort of AI that
we see in movies like "Her" or other sci-fi movies in which humans interact
with machines and operating systems that are conscious, sentient, and
driven by emotion and self-awareness.

Currently, this type of intelligence does not exist in the real world and only
exist in researches and movies. However, researchers across the world are
working to develop such machines, which is still a very difficult task.

3. Super AI

Super AI refers to AI that is self-aware, with cognitive abilities that surpass

that of humans. It is a level where machines are capable of doing any task
that a human can do with cognitive properties. However, Super AI is still a
hypothetical concept, and it is a challenging task to develop such AI-enabled
machines.
 o On the basis of Functionality:
1. Reactive Machines

Reactive machines are the basic types of AI, which don't store memories or
past experiences for their actions. These types of AI machines only focus on
current scenarios and work as per the requirement with the best possible
actions. IBM's Deep Blue is an example of a reactive machine.

2. Limited Memory

Limited memory can store some memory or past experiences for a limited
time period. Some examples of limited memory are Self-driving cars.

3. Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind is the type of AI which are capable of understanding human

emotions, and interact with the human in their way. However, such AI
machines are yet not developed, and developers and researchers are making
efforts for creating such AI-enabled machines.

4. Self-awareness

Self-awareness AI is the future of Artificial Intelligence, which will have its

own awareness, sentiments, and consciousness. This AI is only a hypothetical
concept and will take a long journey and challenges to create such AI.

o Applications of AI
1. Game Playing:

AI is widely used in Gaming. Different strategic games such as Chess, where

the machine needs to think logically, and video games to provide real-time
experiences use Artificial Intelligence.

2. Robotics:

Artificial Intelligence is commonly used in the field of Robotics to develop

intelligent robots. AI implemented robots use real-time updates to sense any
obstacle in their path and can change the path instantly. AI robots can be
used for carrying goods in hospitals and industries and can also be used for
other different purposes.

3. Healthcare:

In the healthcare sector, AI has diverse uses. In this field, AI can be used to
detect diseases and cancer cells. It also helps in finding new drugs with the
use of historical data and medical intelligence.

4. Computer Vision:
Computer vision enables the computer system to understand and derive
meaningful information from digital images, video, and other visual input with
the help of AI.

5. Agriculture:

AI is now widely used in Agriculture; for example, with the help of AI, we can
easily identify defects and nutrient absences in the soil. To identify these
defects, AI robots can be utilized. AI bots can also be used in crop harvesting
at a higher speed than human workers.

6. E-commerce

AI is one of the widely used and demanding technologies in the E-commerce

industry. With AI, e-commerce businesses are gaining more profit and grow in
business by recommending products as per the user requirement.

7. Social Media

Different social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.,

use AI to make the user experiences much better by providing different
features. For example, Twitter uses AI to recommend tweets as per the user
interest and search history.

o Prerequisites for Artificial Intelligence

As a beginner, below are some of the prerequisites that will help to get
started with AI technology.

o Strong knowledge of Mathematics mainly, Calculus, Linear Algebra,

Statistics and probability.

o A good experience in programming languages like Java, Python, R.

o A strong understanding of algorithms.

o Good background in data analytics skills.

o Challenges with AI
o Lack of data or poor-quality data
One of the big challenges with AI is that we don't have enough data to work
with AI systems, or data we have is of poor quality or unstructured. AI
depends on data for its working and requires a huge amount of data for a
good result, but in the real world, data is available either in raw form or
unstructured form that contains lots of impurities and missing values that
cannot be processed or analyzed. Hence the processing of such data is a big
task for organizations, and it takes lots of effort and is a time-consuming
process.

o Insufficient IT infrastructure
There is still a lack of IT infrastructures, mainly in start-ups, which is a big
issue in AI researches and development.

o Lack of AI talent
AI is growing continuously day by day with rapid speed, and more people are
accepting the proven ideas of AI. The growing rate of AI also needs
developers of AI tech. However, the professionals with full scales skills to
develop high-level AI implementations are still lacking, which is also one of
the big challenges with AI.

o Computing Power
Computing power has always been a big issue in the IT industry, but day by
day, this issue has been resolved. However, with the development of AI, this
issue has arisen again. Deep learning and the processing of neural networks,
which are part of AI, require a high level of computing power, and are a major
challenge for the tech industries. Mainly for start-ups, collecting money and
such high computing power to process the data is a big deal.

o Legal Issues
One of the latest challenges with AI is that now organizations need to be wary
of AI. The legal issues are raised for concern that if AI collects sensitive data,
that may be a violation of federal laws.

Although it is not illegal, industries need to be careful of any supposed impact

that might negatively affect their organization.

o Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence is undoubtedly a trending and emerging technology. It is
growing very fast day by day, and it is enabling machines to mimic the
human brain. Due to its high performance and as it is making human life
easier, it is becoming a highly demanded technology among industries.
However, there are also some challenges and problems with AI. Many people
around the world are still thinking of it as a risky technology, because they
feel that if it overtakes humans, it will be dangerous for humanity, as shown
in various sci-fi movies. However, the day-to-day development of AI is making
it a comfortable technology, and people are connecting with it more.
Therefore, we can conclude that it is a great technology, but each technique
must be used in a limited way in order to be used effectively, without any
harm.