Exploring AI and What It Means to be Human

In the not too distant future, the first artificially intelligent robotic androids will work alongside people in our homes. They will help with chores, take care of children, go shopping, take orders, etc. As their skills are honed and they become familiar with various situations they will become as valuable as an actual human. It is believed that this will be heralded the beginning of a new era in which we all participate and interact with computers and AIs. 

• Prospects of AI in the future
• Evolution of AI technology 
• Impact of AI on humans

Prospects of AI in the future

We have seen the incredible applications and potential that artificial intelligence technology has in various sectors.  It is believed that in the next few decades AI technology will be so much more advanced than human employees that they will actually become like friends and not just business associates. They will look, act, think and reason like humans. However, before that time they will need to be properly taught how to behave in a social setting and that can take some time.

Evolution of AI Technology

Why? Well, remember back in the 20th century when we had all these new technologies and someone came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection. He or she was wrong and millions of people believed him. The future of technology may bring about a similar fate for artificial intelligence. Only time will tell.

How will AI impact humans? 

How will the research behind such AI change our lives? Well, let us look at an example. Suppose one day an AIT (artificial intelligent toaster) is developed that will replace the regular toast maker. The AIT will surf the web, store data and even decompose the toast for you, all without your having to lift a finger. Will all these wonderful new features be welcomed with open arms? Not likely.

What if a future AIT is developed that can beat the human at chess? Will the public welcome it with open arms? Well, most probably not. Then, what if someday a technology is developed that can beat all the grandmasters at chess? Will the public ever embrace such a super power? I wouldn’t count on it.

There are all sorts of sci-fi scenarios in which these fears may come true. However, if you take a look at current AITs and their history so far, they haven’t achieved anything close to that. And that’s because they’ve been researching different aspects of the technology from its inception instead of jumping right in. In other words, they have labored on it. It’s much too early to jump in with both feet.

One thing that is clear is that we cannot simply wait for the future to find out what it will become. As humans get smarter, they will continue to improve AIT. What’s more important is that we continue to fund long-term research into AIT development. It could be as little as ten years before we have something which is capable of beating a grandmaster at chess.

There have already been many significant breakthroughs in this area. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created an autonomous system that can beat any professional player at chess. IBM has a program called Watson, which was designed to analyze medical records to find anomalies. Google’s Deep Brain project is another example of how research and development is progressing all the time.

The next step though is for researchers to start using the latest tools and techniques. One such method is called MetaMind. It is a framework which allows robots to work alongside people in a simulated environment. This helps to improve the accuracy of the results that are returned by the robot. This form of research is particularly important when you consider that we already have artificial intelligence in our smartphones which can perform similar tasks.

Another option is called Alpha SIM. This is another research project using an artificial intelligence platform. It is more specifically designed to help doctors in training. The idea is to allow them to use voice recognition software to scan documents for important keywords and then give specific directions to the appropriate professionals. Currently such software can be expensive. However, as we move into the future, it will become cheaper and more affordable.

Conclusion: 

Researching artificial intelligence technology can be exciting because it’s a wonderful way to keep up with developments on a continuous basis. We may not know exactly what the future holds. However, by staying informed, we can better prepare. That means we need to keep studying all the different methods, applications, and ideas out there.