Understanding AI beyond the flashy taglines

There are few other fields as loaded with the opportunity to be creative as the marketing sector. Having been a marketer, I can assure you, give us an amoeba and we’ll definitely wrought a Mammoth out. We will know what is fancy and find a way to add it in the ad. This is something that has happened with almost every gadget that has come out after the popularization of artificial intelligence. Marketers just stamp products with AI and it becomes easier to sell and people are convinced to pay more for it. These cannot be called a scam but there is a serious discrepancy between what AI can actually achieve and what people claim it can.

Just as consumers need to be more careful about floating into the buzz, the enthusiasts and students too need to build a conception of how things actually are.

Starting simple: What is AI?

Artificial Intelligence, it does not sound as fancy as it actually is. Imagine a thinking organism that is built artificially by wiring and programming. An artificial life form that can remind you to take an umbrella to the market as it might rain or can ask you to take a different road because the usual road has a terrible congestion. Yes, that is about it. We are yet to be in the presence of artificial beings that can drive us to the workplace or takes your dog for a work. There are robots that practically emulate a human beings life but that is not going to be of much use to you, not immediately.

Machines are learning, are you?

Human beings teach machines how to react to certain information. There, that is what machine learning is all about. What is the big fuss? The big deal is when the machine starts to slightly modify the reactions according to the variation in the information it has been exposed to. Applied AI with machine learning is what we are currently witnessing the most.   

Peaking into deep learning: Does it really work like the human brain?

Deep learning has really changed the scenario for artificial intelligence. It works through neural networks that are conceptual recreation of the neural networks in the human brain. When the human brain is exposed to different elements it stores the information and the corresponding action. For example the first time you unwittingly touch a hot frying pan and get a burn, the brain makes sure you never do it again in your senses. Artificial emulation of this process depends on a massive amount of data and it is still in the developing tracks to be fair.

A field of possibilities unrealized

We have been able to automate repetitive tasks with AI. It has shown its ability to go through massive amounts of data and find patterns in them. It can even react according to the findings. The applications, however varied and impactful, are still just a shadow of the possibilities and the promises. It is important for young enthusiasts to learn applied AI machine learning and contribute to the growth and development of the field further.