Artificial Intelligence: Do you understand any of it?

When it comes to artificial intelligence we think of many things, such as self-driving cars, drones, the Roomba vacuum, or maybe even a movie such as Wall-E by Pixar, starring that binocular headed trash compacting robot everybody loves. Though I am not particularly interested in the in-depth knowledge on this topic, I do realize that being informed on artificial intelligence is a must. I am sure everyone knows a grandparent or older friend who just is not able to keep up with the technology boom that is happening with computers and cell phones. As a result I feel it would be most appropriate to be able to provide a basic understanding of what Artificial Intelligence is and where it is going in the near future and beyond.

I would define artificial intelligence as an inorganic object such as a computer with the ability to interact with it’s environment without the aid of a human. Due to the broad spectrum that A.I is used in, this blog could provide a basic understanding to the workings of artificial intelligence in most every field, from rocket science to floor cleaning. However at the same time I would like to explore some more in-depth topics and questions that pertain to the development of A.I and how it will be changing the world around us. In specific I would like to explore how safe A.I really is, we have all seen or heard of a movie where robots think for themselves and take over the world or cause some sort of pandemonium. The late Stephen Hawking once told BBC reporters “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”. I believe that Professor Hawking had a legitimate concern when he expressed his thoughts on A.I. Which despite the irony of his need for A.I to communicate both in both verbally and written mean, I believe that his expertise on the subject through his extensive use of A.I made him a perfect person to bring up concerns with the future development of self-thinking machines. However at the same time we all wonder what amazing advancements the human race could achieve through the use of artificial intelligence. With the release of self-driving cars from companies such as Tesla we have only scraped the surface of what we can do with our rapid development of technology. So I ask myself where are we right now, and where are we going? Through basic comprehension of how artificial intelligence works and familiarization of humanities most recent technological developments we can all become knowledgeable and prepared for the changes that will come in the near future.