Blog / What is AI really?? It seems everywhere you look there’s a new article on “Artificial Intelligence”
What is AI really??
It seems everywhere you look there’s a new article on “Artificial Intelligence”
Following is TRINUS Security Supervisor Karl Buckley’s latest Newsletter contribution:
Sometimes it has to do with self-driving cars or some Facebook method to police its’ content. Every day there seems to be a new report saying something about AI. Here are a few examples:
Microsoft AI to help people with disabilities
“Google Research” rebranding to “Google AI”
AI makes phone calls to real people
That last article is interesting because it means we’ve created an AI that can pass the “Turing Test.” The Turing Test, developed by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human.
Most communiques say much the same thing: “AI is NEW!” This has a lot of people scared and a bit gun-shy. This is pretty normal I suppose, considering that suddenly it seems that the term AI is being thrown around all over the place!
This particular newsletter isn’t so much about Security, but awareness. The truth of the matter is that AI is nothing new to the world of computers. It’s old, decades old, and it’s been right in front of you for at least 30 years.
Let’s rewind the clock a little bit, back to when I was going to school (back before the turn of the century!) I was going to school to get a degree in Computer Programming, with a major in “Applied Artificial Intelligence.” Yes, AI is a topic I have some level of expertise with. Good times, lots of learning, many nights with very little sleep, a couple of smashing parties… typical egghead stuff I guess. Back then AI was nothing new with computers either.
The fact is many of the everyday things computers do (either behind the scenes or right in front of us), were once upon a time the center of AI research. Once they were discovered, they became mainstream.
The problem is that most people don’t actually understand what AI truly is; what it means. Films have given people the wrong impression.
AI is NOT Hall 9000 asking my boss: “What are you doing Dave?”
It’s NOT a Terminator walking up and saying “Come with me if you want to live.”
It’s not the WHOPPER asking me: “Would you like to play a nice game of Chess?” (Who remembers the movie “WarGames” from 1983?)
So, what is AI?
AI is simply a computer doing something without being told to by a human operator, or asking a human if it can. AI is a computer doing something all by itself.
That is AI simplified down to its’ basic level. So, cars that can drive by themselves and drones that can return home? Yes; those are examples of AI. But, those are new! I told you that AI had been around for decades and under your nose.
To prove this, I will end this newsletter with a simple question.
When was the last time you adjusted your computer for Daylight Savings time?
Devices doing things on their own, without asking. The future truly is NOW and it’s been here for a long time!
If you have any questions about AI, you can always reach out to your TRINUS Account Manager for some stress-free IT.
Thanks!
Dave White
TRINUS
stress-free IT
