What ever happened to artificial intelligence?
Is artificial intelligence (AI) in human society a utopian dream or (worse yet) a Faustian nightmare?" (qtd in Kurzweil 450).
Opponents to AI would like members of society to believe the answer to this question is yes. For these skeptics, AI either "conjures up images of HAL in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey ' or . . . the scarecrow in the 'Wizard of Oz '" (qtd in Kupsh and Rhodes 344). Both cases illustrate the presence of intelligence where a brain is lacking. In the former AI is seen as a threat, and in the latter AI is seen as a fantasy. What many skeptics do not realize is that both business and society are already profiting from the use of AI. My goal is to better inform you, my reader, so that you will understand that AI is neither a threat nor a fantasy. Rather, it is a reality which continues to enhance our quality of life. Before I do that, however, it is important for you to understand what AI is. I will, therefore, begin with a general definition of artificial intelligence, then break it down into three categories to examine its impact on business and society.
Definition of Artificial Intelligence Put quite simply, artificial intelligence is the ability of a computer to imitate the process of thinking. This means that in addition to data processing and number crunching, it deals with "knowledge processing." In other words, intelligent computers are able to interpret information and respond in an appropriate way. This capability of a computer is fully dependent upon its intelligent software, thus, the equipment can do only what humans allow. To date, three major applications of AI exist, and I classify them as follows: expert systems and neural networks, natural language processing, and robotics and perception. These categories represent the major ways in which intelligent computers can respond to information. The next three sections of this paper will focus individually on these categories by first describing the area of
Opponents to AI would like members of society to believe the answer to this question is yes. For these skeptics, AI either "conjures up images of HAL in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey ' or . . . the scarecrow in the 'Wizard of Oz '" (qtd in Kupsh and Rhodes 344). Both cases illustrate the presence of intelligence where a brain is lacking. In the former AI is seen as a threat, and in the latter AI is seen as a fantasy. What many skeptics do not realize is that both business and society are already profiting from the use of AI. My goal is to better inform you, my reader, so that you will understand that AI is neither a threat nor a fantasy. Rather, it is a reality which continues to enhance our quality of life. Before I do that, however, it is important for you to understand what AI is. I will, therefore, begin with a general definition of artificial intelligence, then break it down into three categories to examine its impact on business and society.
Definition of Artificial Intelligence Put quite simply, artificial intelligence is the ability of a computer to imitate the process of thinking. This means that in addition to data processing and number crunching, it deals with "knowledge processing." In other words, intelligent computers are able to interpret information and respond in an appropriate way. This capability of a computer is fully dependent upon its intelligent software, thus, the equipment can do only what humans allow. To date, three major applications of AI exist, and I classify them as follows: expert systems and neural networks, natural language processing, and robotics and perception. These categories represent the major ways in which intelligent computers can respond to information. The next three sections of this paper will focus individually on these categories by first describing the area of
Bibliography: "Explaining the Experts." Byte Oct. 1991: 111. Kurzweil, Raymond. The Age of Intelligent Machines Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1990. April 23, 1993 Dr