Artificial Intelligence Overview or “How to predict the future?”

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning facts, views, and opinions

Hi, all! Today we want to discuss one big theme – Artificial Intelligence (AI). So many doubts and disputes around it. To help you understand this issue a little better, we collected different facts, views, and materials in this article. It could help you to make up your own opinion about Artificial Intelligence and answer questions: how dangerous AI can be, how machine learning helped people in AI evolution, etc.

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“AI’s a rare case where we need to be proactive in regulation, instead of reactive. Because by the time we are reactive with AI regulation, it’s too late” — Elon Musk

At first, let’s figure out what means Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence – a mix of machine capabilities and natural intelligence (human or animal intelligence) in simple terms. Modern scientists work to ensure that computers, robots, machines could think, understand information and react on occasions like a creature, but without human factor to prevent different accident events. AI includes smart house, self-driving cars, virtual assistants (Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, etc.), CCTV, video games with AI worlds, recommendations of films, music, and goods for your needs. This list can be far more, but this example could show you, that we meet Artificial Intelligence at every turn in our life.

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“Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. We’re nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on.” — Larry Page

Powerful push for AI was in the middle of XX when first computers saw the light. But even before this, philosophes have discussed human mentality, intelligence, and our behaviour. Main tasks we get from our brain. When it starts, many unconscious algorithms and mind mechanisms come into effect. Scientists have limited knowledge about our brain work. But Artificial Intelligence engineers applicate that we don’t have to know, how works human consciousness to make machine intelligence whom could think like a human and evolve without help.

One of the first significant inventions in AI way of life was Turing test. Actually, this test was just a theory of Alan Turing article “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” in philosophical journal “Mind”. It says that testee has to chat with two interlocutors: a real man and a machine. And if 30% of participants can’t understand who is who – it means that AI won. There were a lot of prototypes. In 1966 Joseph Weizenbaum created virtual psychotherapist “ELIZA”. In 1972 Kenneth Colby unveiled virtual schizophrenic “PARRY”. For ХХ century both AIs showed a great result. So their makers even decided to collaborate them. As a result, “ELIZA” and “PARRY” were chatting! Their dialogue lasted for several minutes, but despite this, it was awesome. This method causes a lot of discussions, but just in 2014 scientists officially applicate that they reach this result – famous 13-years old Eugene Goostman convinced 33%.

Four of the closest and well-known examples for us are Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant and Alexa. They are personal intelligence assistants that can offer to us Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon. They are still competing to be the best. And this competition seems to be eternal.

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Intelligence Assistants competition. Infographics by Statista. Research by Stone Temple.

Another Artificial Intelligence accomplishment is machine intelligence that beat natural intelligence. How? The best player in GO Ke Jie was beaten by AlphaGO. Till now it continues to develop.

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“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” — Ginni Rometty

Nowadays AI can even predict elections as that do Indian company “MoglA”. They predicted Trump victory at USA election in 2016, both the Democratic and Republican primaries at same year and with three of the last US Presidential elections. For latest elections “MoglA” used open information from social media: Twitter, Google and Facebook and scanned about 20 mln data points.

Scientists make incredible things with AI. There are in the world some robots, which look like a human and also can talk with you. Some models can remember your face and maintain dialogue as they already know you. To these examples belong Sophia the robot, Nadine, Xiaoice, etc.

Here you can see videos:


Robot Sophia gives an interview


Prof. Nadia Thalmann chatting with her creation – robot Nadine after latest conversation

You shouldn’t go so far to see that Artificial Intelligence technologies already surround us. In 2016 Joshua Neally got into his Tesla car to get home because his daughter had a birthday in that day. But suddenly he felt an ache in his chest. Joshua redirected his car to take him to the hospital. Doctors found him ill with pulmonary embolism and because of Tesla Joshua alieved.

Another one example is Google AutoML. With machine learning help not so far ago Google scientists gave robots ability to make a machine learning code, which was better than researchers` code. So we can recognize that machines can learn on their own already. And that’s terrifyingly as well as majestically. Especially because AutoML result was achieved only for five months. We just can imagine what will be in a year or two.

We can give many another examples how Artificial Intelligence permeates in our life. But there is one thing that we can say for sure: AI technologies soon will become our routine. It crucially will change our lives, just like once it already did computers and Internet.

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“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence, the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization a billion-fold.” — Ray Kurzweil

Now, let’s talk about some Artificial Intelligence facts. Because there are many opinions, arguments and research about is AI good or bad for us?
In one opinion AI – it’s a new breakthrough. With machine intelligence help there would be a new industrial revolution. Even now scientists work with machines for Industry 4.0. Let’s imagine how would change our life if all machines had intelligence:

  • Machines can explore cosmos, earth and ocean depths. It’s impossible for human or common machine, but robots with AI can do that without risk for our lives;
  • Work automatization. Robots and machines will do routine and dangerous work. It’ll minimize human factor and mortality;
  • The fight against terrorism, climate change and other global problems;
  • Revolution in medicine, etc.;
  • Virtual and augmented reality.
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“Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.” — Alan Kay

But all good points have the flip side of the coin. Many smart and outstanding people fear Artificial Intelligence revolution. Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates among them. Why? It looks like AI develops too fast and even scientists can’t keep up with it. Like great minds, we can predict risks that waiting for us.

  • They can self-learn and adaptation without human help;
  • There is a danger, that people will not cope and can’t take under control stronger and smarter robots with Artificial Intelligence;
  • They will take our workplaces. Accountants and even IT professions responsibilities will do robots and AI programs. You already know that Google AutoML can upgrade itself and AlphaGo is better in logic games than human;
  • Machines learn to lie. It’s normal process for animals and people. Now it’s normal for AI too;
  • Robots become a weapon.
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“The upheavals [of artificial intelligence] can escalate quickly and become scarier and even cataclysmic. Imagine how a medical robot, originally programmed to rid cancer, could conclude that the best way to obliterate cancer is to exterminate humans who are genetically prone to the disease.” — Nick Bilton, tech columnist wrote in the New York Times

Evolving of Artificial Intelligence has an incredible amount of advantages that will make a breakthrough in science. But the fear of the Singularity (the rebellion of machines) can completely erase the optimistic perception of AI.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are “hype” themes now. Almost all businessmen hire Data Science and Data Engineering specialists to introduce AI technologies in their business. At World Government Summit even Elon Musk promised that in the next 20 years robots with AI replace 15% of employees. As he said that similar fate awaits taxi drivers, call-centre workers, accountants, sellers etc.
Of course, you can find books, films and blogs that brighten this theme. And some of them we want to share with you.

Books:

  • “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas Hofstadter (1979);
  • “The Emperor’s New Mind” by Sir Roger Penrose (1989);
  • “On Intelligence” by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee (2004);
  • “The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind” by Marvin Minsky (2006);
  • “Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach” by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig, (1995 & 2009);
  • “How to create a mind” by Ray Kurzweil (2012);
  • “Superintelligence” by Nick Bostrom (2014);
  • “The Master Algorithm” by Pedro Domingos (2015);
  • “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Max Tegmark (2017).

Blogs:

Films:

  • Metropolis (1927);
  • 2001: A space Odyssey (1968);
  • Star Wars (1977);
  • Blade Runner (1982);
  • The Terminator (1984);
  • Short Circuit (1986);
  • RoboCop (1987);
  • Star Trek: Generations (1994);
  • Bicentennial Man (1999);
  • The Martix (1999);
  • A.I. Artifisial Intelligence (2001);
  • I, Robot (2004);
  • Eagle Eye (2008);
  • Blinky – Bad Robot (2011);
  • Her (2013);
  • The Machine (2013);
  • Ex Machina (2015);
  • Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

We want to end our article by Stephen Hawking quote “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race….It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”

AI is as gorgeous, as dangerous and we can’t refute it. How it’ll be next… We don’t know. But Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Data Science, Big Data, etc. grow fast and now we see the dawn of Machine Intelligence. 2017 was a productive year for AI and 2018 will be even more fruitful, we know that.

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