AI

Artificial intelligence (AI)

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine or application which carries out a task that requires some degree of intelligence when carried out by a human being. These tasks could include:

• the use of a language

• carrying out a mathematical calculation or function

• recognising a person’s face

• the ability to operate machinery, such as a car, an aeroplane or a train

• analysing data to predict the outcome of a future event, such as weather forecasting

The impact of AI

• People often associate AI with science fiction, fantasy and robots.

• Numerous films and books fuel this association.

• The science fiction author, Isaac Asimov, went so far as to produce his own three laws of robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human through action or inaction.

2. A robot must obey orders given by humans without question.

3. A robot must protect itself unless it conflicts with the two laws above.

• However, AI goes way beyond robotics.

  • autonomous (driverless) vehicles

  • artificial limb technology

  • drones, used to carry out dangerous or unpleasant tasks such as bomb disposal, welding, or entering nuclear disaster areas

  • climate change predictions

  • medical procedures, such as eye operations where extreme precision is required.

• It covers a number of areas, such as:

The impacts of AI on society, the economy and the environment

Transport

• Some taxi companies are already looking at the introduction of autonomous (driverless) cars.

• A customer can call up the taxi using an app on their mobile phone, which also automatically handles the payment.

Criminal justice system

• Advances in facial recognition systems is making fingerprinting in forensic science almost obsolete.

• AI is also being used to automate legal work and some courts in the USA have trialled the use of AI to sentence criminals and even decide if a prisoner is eligible for parole.