Artificial Intelligence Around Us

During the 1980s, artificial intelligence aroused much interest in the United States. The great expectations of the 1980s were followed by the skepticism of the 1990s, during which the limited capabilities of our current computers were emphasized. The skepticism of the 1990s has largely ended and one of the main scientific and industrial challenges of the 21st century is the development of Intelligent Artificial Systems (AIS).

The development of AIS aims to create new technologies that provide solutions to the problems of electronics and heavy industries, agriculture, energy and resource conservation, transport, human health, public safety, national security and other areas.

Speaking at a conference in Buenos Aires in 1995, Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under the presidency of Bill Clinton) said: "These roads, or more precisely the distributed intelligence networks, they will allow us to share information, connect and communicate as a global community.From these connections, we will achieve solid and sustainable economic progress, solid democracies, better solutions to local and global environmental challenges, better medical care and, ultimately, a greater sense of shared administration of our world.

From a historical point of view, the AIS emerged in the last century as a result of the evolution of man-machine systems, in which the functions of man and machine are interdependent for the operation of these systems. . For example, a craftsman who operates a lathe, a driver and his car in motion, as well as the workers and machines of a power plant, are all man-machine systems. In a human-machine system, the human operator provides the objective, the direction and the integration. The machine executes everything according to the instructions given and provides comments.

During the evolution of man-machine systems, the role of man has diminished compared to that of the machines he exploits. To perform routine functions, machines are increasingly equipped with control subsystems and the resulting human-machine systems are called "semiautomatic" systems. Little by little, many semiautomatic systems became automatic systems.

Thanks to computer systems, there has been a fantastic change in many technological areas in recent decades. The previous machines had the role of carrying out tasks entrusted by human beings. Today, these machines are equipped with highly advanced programmable control systems and various types of sensory devices, allowing them to perform many human tasks, including creative problem solving. Meanwhile, engineers and scientists working on bionic technologies are approaching the creation of machines that can perform certain human functions for people with disabilities. As a result, the preconditions for the birth of artificial intelligence appeared.

Ray Kurzweil, in his very interesting book, Singularity is Real, found an adequate metaphor to describe the process of propagating computer systems. He said: "Improving computer performance is like the water that slowly floods the landscape." Half a century ago, it began to drown the lowlands, pursuing human calculators and registry employees, but leaving most of us dry. It has reached the foothills and our outposts are retreating, we feel safe in our summits, but at the current rate, they will also submerge in half a century.

It is also a fair statement about artificial intelligence (AI). In recent years, some programs and systems of artificial intelligence have managed to copy certain functions of the human brain and expand their cognitive and decision-making abilities. As a result, some existing machines can now perform the functions of a human operator based on knowledge, but with better quality. The inventor of the Lisp programming language, John McCarthy, who also coined the term "artificial intelligence" in his proposal for the 1956 Dartmouth conference, defines AI as "the science and engineering of machine manufacturing." smart".

The term "intelligence" is derived from the Latin "intellectus" and is defined as "mind, powers of human thought". According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "intelligence" has several meanings:

• The ability to learn or understand or face new or difficult situations: for example, the skillful use of reason or the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate the environment or think abstractly according to objective criteria
• Information about an enemy or potential enemy or area; and an agency responsible for obtaining this information.
• Mental acuity
• The eternal quality of the divine spirit (Christian Science).
• The ability to execute the function of the computer.

It makes sense to analyze the definition, "the ability to perform a computer function". At first glance, an executable computer program, which provides computer functions (for example, calculate or write text), has no intelligence. However, consider for a moment that "the human or animal instinct" is the inherent disposition of a living organism to a particular behavior. On the basis of our computer knowledge, we can count the "instinct" as a group of programs written in genetic material such as DNA.

When a worker performs his tasks automatically, it means that he has in his brain the "programs" necessary for automatic actions. In part, these programs were created through the special training he received to enable him to do his job. The acquired and congenital programs are all part of the human intellect or intelligence. The same goes for an executable computer program. The program contains a part of the intellect of its creators, translated into a language (code) understood by the machine.

Therefore, an executable computer program has some intelligence. Modern computer systems that can, for example, choose an optimal decision or rationally analyze the external influences of this decision are intelligent systems. This is the reason why artificial intelligence is a powerful resource for solving a wide range of problems (including non-formalized ones) for which there is currently no known solution.

Historically, the term "intelligence" has partnered with government organizations (agencies) dedicated to gathering information for national security and defense purposes, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in America. Nowadays, this term has a broader meaning, with practical applications for systems and real products. Artificial intelligence methods include elements found in cybernetics, computer science, psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, linguistics, operations research, economics, control theory and mathematics, among others. Artificial intelligence also connects and overlaps in areas such as robotics, control systems, planning, data mining and logistics.

Artificial intelligence systems are the realization of the science of artificial intelligence. In other words, the AI ​​could be called "Artificial Intelligence Application". The term "IA" is also used to describe an intelligence property of new machines or programs. Many experts in artificial intelligence predict that by the middle of the century there will be intelligent machines around us. Machines like robots are already affecting our lives. Automobiles, electronics and aircraft are assembled and tested using several robotic machines. The fact that computers have saved the world from the explosion of information, while becoming accessible to students and other everyday users, is largely due to the use of intelligent machines. Almost all the machines that surround us are rapidly becoming "smart", with the help of smart applications. The revenues generated by the artificial intelligence and robotics industries are now worth billions of dollars a year.

With advanced computer systems used in traffic control or manufacturing, it is reasonable to maintain the human capacity to solve bottleneck problems in real time. Man-machine systems can exist at different levels of automation (from manual to autonomous) and artificial intelligence systems can have different degrees, from the simplest to the most complex.

Today, many artificial intelligence applications are present in industry, commerce, medicine, automobile navigation, communications, military operations, space exploration, etc. An average person may have little or no knowledge of current AI applications, however, they encounter AI results several times a day. For example, the surprising functionality of everyday machines, such as cars, sewing machines, kitchen appliances and the Internet, or the quality of television images, movies and telephone communications are due to the fact that artificial intelligence is used in many common applications. High technology products.

It is very likely that AIS will become commonplace in the very near future, as the widespread use of these systems will bring more prosperity and improve the well-being of all people on our planet. Intelligent automation systems, various consulting programs and robots can and will do the work we can not or do not want to do. The article is an excerpt from the author's book "Artificial intelligence around us", published by Bookstand Publishing.