Artificial Intelligence Abbreviations

What is artificial intelligence (AI)?

Artificial intelligence (AI ) is a branch of Computer Science research that is concerned with developing technological mechanisms and devices that can simulate human reasoning, that is, the intelligence that is characteristic of human beings.

The central objective of research related to artificial intelligence is based on the idea of making computers “think” exactly like humans, creating analyses, reasoning, understanding and obtaining answers to different situations.

Not only solving problems in a rational way, but the big “step” within the studies of artificial intelligence is the development of systems that can learn and develop themselves. In other words, it means creating new deductions from the joining of various fragmented information, just as it happens within the neurological system of human beings.

Going beyond the cognitive point of view, another great ambition of research involving artificial intelligence technologies is the possibility of making human creativity, emotions and feelings also reproduced by machines.

The idea of artificial intelligence may seem like a sci-fi story plot. But thanks to advances in research in the area, significant results are already beginning to appear and become part of people’s daily lives.

How does artificial intelligence work?

The union of several technologies is necessary for the development of artificial intelligence, highlighting three important factors:

• machines with great processing power;
• optimized data models (able to intelligently analyze and process information);
• constant amount of information to feed the models.

There are also some laws that AI software developers must follow to prevent the technology from taking unexpected actions.

These parameters were created based on the Laws of Robotics or “Asimov’s Laws” (named after Isaac Asimov, one of the most important science fiction writers in history). Among some of the principles, we highlight:

• Knowledge constraint:imposes a limit on what artificial intelligence can learn and perform.
• No self-replication:prevents the AI from reproducing itself, that is, from generating copies of its software
• Interaction Prohibition:Prevents artificial intelligence from contacting people not authorized to communicate with them.
• Order:the artificial intelligence must obey every order your programmer puts into the system, even if that includes the device’s self-destruction.

These “barriers” are useful to limit the area of action and participation of artificial intelligence, preventing it from being able to perform actions that have been learned, but that do not fit its purpose.

Examples of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is present in most people’s daily lives, even if they don’t realize it. Some basic examples are:

• Technologies that provide easy recognition in photographsthat are available on major social networks, such as Facebook, for example. They consist of forms of artificial intelligence, as the system is able to virtually recognize features of the person’s physiognomy and associate it with that individual’s profile.
• The ability of some software to “learn” the preferences of its usersthrough the experiences obtained can also be considered a primary example of artificial intelligence.
• Devices that use voice processingto perform tasks, such as Siri on the iPhone, is another example of how AI is present in people’s daily lives.

Advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence

Positive aspects

With the use of artificial intelligence, machines can help humans solve problems and enhance research faster and with fewer errors.

AI can make everyday life more practical, as it would be programmed to interpret different situations and adapt responses or solutions according to each particularity, for example.

Devices with artificial intelligence would also be useful to replace the human presence in hard-to-reach places, such as explorations in the depths of the ocean or in space.

Negative aspects

Even though there is still a long way to go for machines to reach the closest possible concept of what human intelligence would be, scientists are already considering the hypothesis that, in the distant future, artificial intelligence will be a threat to humanity.

According to researchers and renowned personalities within science, such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, the emergence of a technology with the ability to act and “think” autonomously, could mean the overcoming and domination of people, jeopardizing the existence of a civilization ruled by human beings.

In addition to this fear, artificial intelligence may still present other disadvantages in the future, such as the replacement of professionals in some areas by machines.

Ethical issues could also be an issue if artificial intelligence technology becomes too similar to the mental process of humans in the future.

List of Acronyms Related to Artificial Intelligence