Artificial Intelligence

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a way to make machines think and behave intelligently. These
machines are controlled by software inside them, so AI has a lot to do with intelligent software
programs that control these machines. It is a science of finding theories and methodologies that
can help machines understand the world and accordingly react to situations in the same way that
humans do.
If we look closely at how the field of AI has emerged over the last couple of decades, you will
see that different researchers tend to focus on different concepts to define AI. In the modern
world, AI is used across many verticals in many different forms. We want the machines to
sense, reason, think, and act. We want our machines to be rational too.
AI is closely related to the study of human brain. Researchers believe that AI can be
accomplished by understanding how the human brain works. By mimicking the way the human
brain learns, thinks, and takes action, we can build a machine that can do the same. This can be
used as a platform to develop intelligent systems that are capable of learning.

Artificial Intelligence

Machine Learning

Neural network

Big Data
Deep Learning

Strong AI

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Why do we need to study AI?

AI has the ability to impact every aspect of our lives. The field of AI tries to understand patterns
and behaviors of entities. With AI, we want to build smart systems and understand the concept
of intelligence as well. The intelligent systems that we construct are very useful in
understanding how an intelligent system like our brain goes about constructing another
intelligent system.
Let's take a look at how our brain processes information:

Compared to some other fields such as Mathematics or Physics that have been around for
centuries, AI is relatively in its infancy. Over the last couple of decades, AI has produced some
spectacular products such as self-driving cars and intelligent robots that can walk. Based on the
direction in which we are heading, it's pretty obvious that achieving intelligence will have a
great impact on our lives in the coming years.
We can't help but wonder how the human brain manages to do so much with such effortless
ease. We can recognize objects, understand languages, learn new things, and perform many
more sophisticated tasks with our brain. How does the human brain do this? When you try to do

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this with a machine, you will see that it falls way behind! For example, when we try to look for
things such as extraterrestrial life or time travel, we don't know if those things exist. The good
thing about the holy grail of AI is that we know it exists. Our brain is the holy grail! It is a
spectacular example of an intelligent system. All we have to do is to mimic its functionality to
create an intelligent system that can do something similar, possibly even more.
Let's see how raw data gets converted to wisdom through various levels of processing:

One of the main reasons we want to study AI is to automate many things. We live in a world
where:

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 We deal with huge and insurmountable amounts of data. The human brain can't keep
track of so much data.
 Data originates from multiple sources simultaneously.
 The data is unorganized and chaotic.
 Knowledge derived from this data has to be updated constantly because the data itself
keeps changing.
 The sensing and actuation has to happen in real time with high precision.
Even though the human brain is great at analyzing things around us, it cannot keep up with the
preceding conditions. Hence, we need to design and develop intelligent machines that can do
this. We need AI systems that can:
 Handle large amounts of data in an efficient way. With the advent of Cloud Computing,
we are now able to store huge amounts of data.
 Ingest data simultaneously from multiple sources without any lag.
 Index and organize data in a way that allows us to derive insights.
 Learn from new data and update constantly using the right learning algorithms.
 Think and respond to situations based on the conditions in real time.
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The Foundation of AI
Artificial Intelligence has become a buzzword in the technological world, with the potential to
transform the way we live and work. The foundation of AI lies in the Base i, which refers to the
fundamental building blocks that make up the technology. These building blocks include
machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and robotics, among others.
Together, these components form the backbone of AI, allowing machines to learn, adapt, and
improve over time.

1. Machine learning: machine learning is a subset of AI that focuses on the development of

algorithms that enable machines to learn from data and make predictions or decisions without
being explicitly programmed. For instance, an e-commerce platform uses machine learning

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algorithms to recommend products to customers based on their browsing history, purchases, and
search history.

2. Natural Language Processing: Natural Language Processing (NLP) refers to the ability
of machines to understand, interpret, and generate human language. NLP is essential for
chatbots, virtual assistants, and voice recognition systems that allow users to interact with
machines using natural language.

3. Computer Vision: Computer Vision involves training machines to interpret and

understand visual data from the world around them. With computer vision, machines can
recognize objects, faces, and even emotions, which is critical for applications such as facial
recognition, surveillance, and self-driving cars.

4. Robotics: Robotics is the application of AI in the development of robots that can perform
tasks autonomously. This includes everything from industrial robots used in manufacturing to
autonomous drones and self-driving cars.

AI has the potential to transform industries and solve some of the world's most pressing
problems. For instance, AI can help in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, reduce
carbon emissions, and improve crop yields. However, the success of AI depends on the strength
of the Base i, which requires continued investment in research and development.

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History of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is not a new word and not a new technology for researchers.

This technology is much older than you would imagine. Even there are the myths

of Mechanical men in Ancient Greek and Egyptian Myths. Following are some

milestones in the history of AI which defines the journey from the AI generation to

till date development.

Maturation of Artificial Intelligence (1943-1952)

o Year 1943: The first work which is now recognized as AI was done by

Warren McCulloch and Walter pits in 1943. They proposed a model

of artificial neurons.

o Year 1949: Donald Hebb demonstrated an updating rule for modifying the

connection strength between neurons. His rule is now called Hebbian

learning.

o Year 1950: The Alan Turing who was an English mathematician and

pioneered Machine learning in 1950. Alan Turing publishes "Computing

Machinery and Intelligence" in which he proposed a test. The test can

check the machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to

human intelligence, called a Turing test.

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The birth of Artificial Intelligence (1952-1956)

o Year 1955: An Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon created the "first

artificial intelligence program"Which was named as "Logic Theorist". This

program had proved 38 of 52 Mathematics theorems, and find new and more

elegant proofs for some theorems.

o Year 1956: The word "Artificial Intelligence" first adopted by American

Computer scientist John McCarthy at the Dartmouth Conference. For the

first time, AI coined as an academic field.

At that time high-level computer languages such as FORTRAN, LISP, or COBOL

were invented. And the enthusiasm for AI was very high at that time.

The golden years-Early enthusiasm (1956-1974)

o Year 1966: The researchers emphasized developing algorithms which can

solve mathematical problems. Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot

in 1966, which was named as ELIZA.

o Year 1972: The first intelligent humanoid robot was built in Japan which

was named as WABOT-1.

The first AI winter (1974-1980)

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o The duration between years 1974 to 1980 was the first AI winter duration.

AI winter refers to the time period where computer scientist dealt with a

severe shortage of funding from government for AI researches.

o During AI winters, an interest of publicity on artificial intelligence was

decreased.

A boom of AI (1980-1987)

o Year 1980: After AI winter duration, AI came back with "Expert System".

Expert systems were programmed that emulate the decision-making ability

of a human expert.

o In the Year 1980, the first national conference of the American Association

of Artificial Intelligence was held at Stanford University.

The second AI winter (1987-1993)

o The duration between the years 1987 to 1993 was the second AI Winter

duration.

o Again Investors and government stopped in funding for AI research as due

to high cost but not efficient result. The expert system such as XCON was

very cost effective.

The emergence of intelligent agents (1993-2011)

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o Year 1997: In the year 1997, IBM Deep Blue beats world chess champion,

Gary Kasparov, and became the first computer to beat a world chess

champion.

o Year 2002: for the first time, AI entered the home in the form of Roomba, a

vacuum cleaner.

o Year 2006: AI came in the Business world till the year 2006. Companies

like Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix also started using AI.

Deep learning, big data and artificial general intelligence (2011-present)

o Year 2011: In the year 2011, IBM's Watson won jeopardy, a quiz show,

where it had to solve the complex questions as well as riddles. Watson had

proved that it could understand natural language and can solve tricky

questions quickly.

o Year 2012: Google has launched an Android app feature "Google now",

which was able to provide information to the user as a prediction.

o Year 2014: In the year 2014, Chatbot "Eugene Goostman" won a

competition in the infamous "Turing test."

o Year 2018: The "Project Debater" from IBM debated on complex topics

with two master debaters and also performed extremely well.

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o Google has demonstrated an AI program "Duplex" which was a virtual

assistant and which had taken hairdresser appointment on call, and lady on

other side didn't notice that she was talking with the machine.

Now AI has developed to a remarkable level. The concept of Deep learning, big

data, and data science are now trending like a boom. Nowadays companies like

Google, Facebook, IBM, and Amazon are working with AI and creating amazing

devices. The future of Artificial Intelligence is inspiring and will come with high

intelligence.

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