FEATURE INSIGHT
Mike Nicholas MCIPP AMBCS traces and discusses the origins and the inexorable rise of artificial intelligence Man and machine
A lot has already been written about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on work and life caused by the rise of the machines. Researching for this article revealed only a small part of what has occurred and is occurring. The pace of change, and the scope of change – whether now or in the not- too-distant future – is bewildering and, depending on your viewpoint, either frightening or exciting. It is, however, certain that AI will automate many jobs or aspects of jobs; but to keep things in perspective this is what Harry Shum, executive vice president of Microsoft’s AI research group – which was set up in 2016, and now has
in his analytical engine (http://bit. ly/1L4t0Oo). Yet, the rise of AI and the robots can be traced to one man: Alan Turing (1912–1954), who – in addition to his contribution to the UK’s war effort during the second world war – is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and AI. Years after his death, Turing continues to receive worldwide recognition; for example, in 1999, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most important people of the twentieth century: “… everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine.”
over 8,000 employees – said recently: “Computers today can perform specific tasks very well, but when it comes to general tasks, AI cannot compete with a human child.” ...AI cannot compete with a human child Babbage and Turing Charles Babbage (1791–1871) is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer; indeed, all the essential ideas of modern computers can be found
Definition of artificial intelligence AI (also machine intelligence, MI) is intelligence displayed by machines, in contrast with the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. ‘Intelligence’ – which has been defined in many different ways including as capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, planning, creativity, and problem solving – can be generally described as the ability or inclination to perceive or deduce information, and to retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment or context. Colloquially, the term ‘artificial intelligence’ is applied when a machine mimics ‘cognitive’ functions (i.e. consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, and memory) that humans associate with other human minds, such as ‘learning’ and ‘problem solving’. The scope of AI is disputed: as machines become increasingly capable, tasks considered as requiring ‘intelligence’ are often removed from the definition, a phenomenon known as the ‘AI effect’ [which] occurs when onlookers discount the behaviour of an AI programme by arguing that it is not real intelligence. The AI effect tries to redefine AI to mean it be anything that has not been done yet, and that once AI successfully solves a problem, the problem is no longer a part of AI. Capabilities generally classified as ‘AI’ as of 2017 include successfully understanding human speech, competing at a high level in strategic game systems (such as chess and Go), autonomous cars, intelligent routing in content delivery networks, military simulations, and interpreting complex data, including images and videos. Source: Wikipedia
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | February 2018 | Issue 37 36
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