Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence, such as sight and speech, decision making, and language translation.
Although artificial intelligence has been an active lab product since the early 1950s, and great strides have been made, it remains an emerging technology. The use of computers to translate from one language to another has improved, but not nearly to the point where it can compare to a human being who is proficient in both languages. Anyone who has tried to carry on a conversation with Siri or Alexa can appreciate the gaps that still exist in the technology as it is in use in home computer devices.
The work toward creating and perfecting AI applications has been underway for as long as there have been computers. I recall that there was an AI chat program available for BBS systems as far back as the late 1980s. Although rudimentary by today's standards, it was quite impressive at the time. BBS users would sometimes carry on a chat with the AI character for a half hour before they realized something was up.
The first AI conference was held at Dartmouth College in the 1950s, one of its goals being to create a working definition for artificial intelligence. At the time, this goal was to be able to use a computer to mimic the way in which human beings learn. Today, that definition has been expanded, and AI has become an umbrella term to cover a wide variety of technologies that are now in common use.
Any speech recognition program that converts speech into text is AI. Siri is AI. In fact, two different AI programs are called upon when you ask Siri to perform a task and the task is performed. The first is speech recognition, a capability that is used in several applications today. The first part of what Siri does is to convert your spoken words into text. The second part is to decide what the task was and complete it.
Sometimes, it's even more complex. "Siri, what's the weather today?" Upon detecting that command, Siri converts your spoken command into text and then determines what task the words are asking for. The computer in your iPhone then has to determine your location, go to a weather reporting engine, ask it for the weather for your location, and then interpret the output of the weather engine, so that it can report it back to you in a way that is understandable to you, a human being. Usually, this occurs in milliseconds. Of course, anyone who has an iPhone knows that not every response from Siri is particularly helpful.
Artificial intelligence programs are used to play games, and strategic game systems have recently been competitive even against professional human opponents, such as chess masters.
Sophisiticated AI systems have been developed to display elements of cognitive and even emotional intelligence, seemingly understanding human emotions, and considering them in its decision-making process.
Today, the goals of research into artificial intelligence include natural language processing, perception and reasoning, knowledge representation, learning, planning, and the ability to move and to manipulate objects.
Artificial intelligence is used several healthcare applications, including the diagnosis of disease and surgical procedures.
Of course, we have all heard of the driverless cars that are being created by various companies, including Apple, Google, and Tesla. While they are not yet in mainstream use, they are being tested in various places.
Banks and other financial institutions have long used AI applications to detect charges or claims outside of the norm, in bookkeeping, stock investments, and property management, an advantage being that AI programs are on duty twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and can react even when the banks are closed.
Governments and large corporations use racial recognition programs to some extent, and the technology exists for it to be used for mass surveillance of populations. Military drones are also AI applications.
The growing use of artificial intelligence is not without concerns, however. People today, including many of those who are heavily involved in the development of AI technology, ask some of the same questions that science fiction authors posed several decades ago. Can a machine truly be sentient? If so, is this a good thing? Are there hard limits to what a machine can do? Will AI bring about massive unemployment? How can we be certain that these machines will behave ethically? Will they always be under human control? Are they capable of intentionally causing harm to a human being? Are they dangerous?
Topics related to artificial intelligence and AI applications are the focus of this category.
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Published by TechForge, and headquartered in Bristol, England, AI News sorts its informational articles into several topical categories, including applications, bots, deep learning, developers, energy, enterprise, healthcare, machine learning, manufacturing, robotics, and security, as well as publishing a calendar of events related to artificial intelligence. Featured news articles and those considered to be among the most popular are highlighted on the first page, and contact data is included.
https://artificialintelligence-news.com/
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Founded in 1979, the AAAI is an international organization created for the purpose of promoting research and the responsible implementation of AI technology. Previously known as the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the organization advocates for a better scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior, and their embodiment in machines. AAAI publications, conferences, and membership policies are defined.
http://www.aaai.org/
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company’s chief product is Kraken, a machine learning platform for businesses that automates many of the repetitive tasks that data scientists would otherwise have to execute manually, enabling business users to solve machine learning problems. An introduction to the company, its products, and its services is put forth, including its accessibility, ease of use, and prescriptive actions of Kraken. A demo may be requested from the site.
https://www.bigsquid.com/
The FLI is a volunteer-operated research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that acts to mitigate existential risks facing humanity, with a focus on the risks of advanced artificial intelligence, but it is also concerned about issues of biotechnology, nuclear technology, and climate change. The organization is introduced, and past, current, and future activities are highlighted, with an overview of the risks facing the human race. Volunteer opportunities are outlined.
https://futureoflife.org/
Announced in 2017, Google AI is a division of Google that is focused on research into artificial intelligence, as well as the application of AI technologies into products and other applications, and the development of AI tools. Its approach is discussed, and a database of recent publications may be accessed through the site. Its teams, focus areas, projects, and outreach programs are introduced, and several educational articles and AI tools are published.
https://ai.google/
The Java toolkit is used for training, testing, and applying Bayesian Network Classifiers, which have been shown to perform well in a number of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining applications. Its project page includes the files, code, reviews, support information, and download links, which are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. API documentation, news and updates, and references are put forth, bugs may be reported, and features requested.
http://jbnc.sourceforge.net/
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
JAIR is a professional publication covering all aspects of artificial intelligence, including refereed research articles, survey results, and technical notes on all topics relating to AI technology and research. JAIR articles are published for free distribution on its site, although printed and bound volumes may be purchased through the site. The current edition may be viewed in full online, and an archive of past publications is included. JAIR invites submissions in all areas of AI.
https://www.jair.org/
Designed to be used in the classroom by schools, and through volunteer coding groups for children, this free tool provides hands-on experiences in training machine learning systems and building things with them, offering a guided environment for training machine learning models to recognize text, numbers, images, and sounds. By adding these models to educational coding platforms, children can create projects and build games with the models they have trained.
https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/
On the basis that machine learning is traditionally taught by academics for academics, leaving developers behind, Machine Learning Mastery is an Australian program intended to teach machine learning to developers. Its site includes quick-start guides on getting started, understanding algorithms, and time series forecasting, and several others, as well as hundreds of tutorials, a subscribable newsletter, and a catalog of books at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.
https://machinelearningmastery.com/
Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio
The Azure ML service enables predictive analytics and interaction with data using natural language and speech. Those with an Azure subscription may sign in to the online service through the site, or through a work or school account, a Microsoft account, or through anonymous guest access. New developments are announced, documentation is provided, and a guide to getting started with Azure ML Studio, obtaining and saving data, reprocessing data, and predictive modeling are included.
https://studio.azureml.net/
Written in the Python computing language, NLTK is designed to work with human language data, providing interfaces to more than fifty corporate and lexical resources, such as WordNet, along with text processing libraries for the classification, tokenization, stemming, tagging, parsing, and semantic reasoning. Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, NLTK is an open source, community-driven project, offering an introduction to programming for language processing.
http://www.nltk.org/
TRFC Cambridge is Harvard and MIT’s robot soccer team, a joint endeavor of undergraduate freshmen to graduate students at Harvard and MIT, which previously existed as two separate entities, the Harvard College Engineering Society and the MIT Competitive Robotics Club. Its software team, responsible for artificial intelligence, motion planning, and infrastructure, is highlighted, along with its mechanical and electronics teams, which design and construct the other components.
http://www.rfcbots.com/
Headquartered on the Cayman Islands, Unite.AI was created to offer detailed analysis and news relating to advancements in artificial intelligence technology and machine learning, as well as the highlight upcoming AI companies. Included is AI news and reports of advancements in AI technology, a schedule of AI conferences and other events, machine learning and AI newsletters, schedules of courses in related technologies, and a list of organizations involved in AI research.
https://www.unite.ai/
