Artificial intelligence: it’s been a common point of discussion lately. But what is it, exactly? Daniel Gross has more.
This story originally aired as part of our A.I. Special Broadcast.
[NARRATION] AI, A BUZZWORD THAT HAS CAUGHT THE TECH WORLD, AND REALLY THE WHOLE WORLD, BY STORM. FROM CHATGPT TO JOBS BEING AUTOMATED AWAY, TO MASSIVE INVESTMENTS FROM TECH FIRMS LIKE GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT, IT’S CLEAR THAT AI WILL PLAY A BIG PART IN THE FUTURE. SO, WHAT IS AI?
[PROF. ALAM] AI BASICALLY IS JUST CREATING AN ARTIFICIAL OR MACHINE VERSION OF WHATEVER INTELLIGENCE IS.
[NARRATION] THAT’S PROFESSOR MOHAMMED ALAM, WHO IS THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NORTHWESTERN’S MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN AI.
[PROF. ALAM] THE PROBLEM IS, WHEN WE SET OUT ON THAT ENDEAVOR OF CREATING INTELLIGENCE, ARTIFICIALLY, WE REALIZE THAT THE ONLY PART OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT WE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS THE ARTIFICIAL PART THAT IT’S NOT GOING TO BE NATURAL, WE ACTUALLY HAVE NO IDEA ABSOLUTELY ZERO IDEA ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE PART, WE DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT IT IS, OR WHETHER IT’S EVEN A THING. EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT INTELLIGENCE IS BASED ON OUR ASSUMPTION AND FEELING THAT THERE IS SOMETHING CALLED INTELLIGENCE.
[NARRATION] THE FIELD OF MATHEMATICAL METHODS OFTEN USED IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS CALLED MACHINE LEARNING. THEY IMPROVE BY EXPERIENCING DATA, HENCE THE TERM “LEARNING”. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING, ANOTHER FIELD WITHIN AI, IS THE STUDY AND CREATION OF MACHINES THAT CAN UNDERSTAND HUMAN LANGUAGE. AI CAN BE USED TO CHAT WITH, MAKE IMAGES, CLASSIFY DATA, AND EVEN TO CREATE MUSIC IN THE STYLE OF FAMOUS ARTISTS. AS A RESULT, MANY PEOPLE IN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES SEE AI AS A THREAT TO THEIR LIVELIHOOD. OTHERS SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATING JOBS, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF MASS LAYOFFS. SO, IS AI WORTH THE HYPE? OR IS IT SOMETHING TO BE AFRAID OF?
[ALAM] CURRENTLY, AI IS AT THE SAME TIME, OVERHYPED AND UNDER HYPE. SO THERE’S A LOT OF OVERHYPE, WHERE PEOPLE ARE SAYING THINGS THAT ARE NOT JUST NOT TRUE ABOUT AI, THEY JUST WANT TO CREATE THE HYPE. BUT THERE ARE ALSO PEOPLE WHO ARE DOWNPLAYING IT, WHICH IS ALSO NOT CORRECT, BECAUSE AI IS POWERFUL. A LOT OF GREAT THINGS HAPPEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN. BUT PEOPLE ARE DOWNPLAYING IT.
WE’LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE HOW MUCH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL AFFECT OTHER ‘AI’ ABBREVIATIONS AND THE REST OF THE WORLD. FOR WNUR, I’M DANIEL GROSS.
