There seem to be a lot of articles about artificial intelligence in newspapers and magazines these days. Some of the other stuff in print makes me think that what we need is more regular intelligence,
Last week, the legislative branch of the 27-country European Union headquartered in Brussels announced plans to restrict the use of artificial intelligence. It’s an attempt to head off abuse of artificial intelligence technology, instead of waiting for it to be a problem the way the United States does.
Artificial intelligence simulates human intelligence in computers that are programmed to think and act like human beings. (Hey, what could go wrong?)
Originally, artificial intelligence meant a machine doing something that would have previously needed human intelligence. From what I’m reading these days, I worry that the artificial intelligence may be more intelligent than the human kind.
All of the major computer companies seem to offer virtual personal assistants (Microsoft Cortana, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, for instance.)
Alexa, for another instance, can handle your e-mail, your shopping list, the radio and television, cooking, a wake-up call, communication with friends and family, and generally can run your life.
It’s hard to believe (at least for an old guy like me) to read about some of the things artificial intelligence can do.
For instance, some artificial intelligence systems can allow you to deposit checks in the bank from your living room, and, if necessary, some can decipher the handwriting on the check.
Artificial intelligence can also detect fraudulent use of a credit card by observing the user’s normal credit card spending patterns.
You’re likely to run into that sort of electronic voodoo any time in these ever-increasing days of artificial intelligence.
The intelligence algorithms can detect and remove hate speech, faster than a human censor can. They are able to identify key words and phrases.
Google maps, I’m told, not only tell you how to drive to a destination, but, thanks to an artificial intelligence algorithm, tell you what time you’ll get there, based on traffic conditions.
The Google app algorithm remembers the edges of buildings that have been fed into the system after the owner has manually identified them.
Another feature is the electronic (or possibly voodoo again) recognizing and understanding of handwritten house numbers. (On paper, I presume, not on the houses.)
The scary thing about the foregoing is that the people who devise, and write about, all this new technology claim that the field of artificial intelligence is still in its infancy. More programs are still to come, they tell us, that will much more accurately replicate human capabilities.
I wonder how long it will be before the computers tell us to just go home and take a nap, and they’ll take care of everything.
Next thing you know, dear reader, weekly columns like this may be turned out by artificial intelligence, instead of the good old fashioned writers like me. Please don’t tell me that you won’t know the difference.
Source: https://www.montgomerynews.com/news/of-all-things-artificial-intelligence-is-real/article_dd6734f4-b65c-11eb-b8bc-7b20205f40c0.html
