The concept of artificial intelligence goes back to antiquity, when stories and myths described mechanical men endowed with intelligence and consciousness. Classical philosophers attempted to describe human thought as the mechanical manipulation of symbols, and early computers made the concept of AI more realistic.
The invention of a programmable digital computer in the 1940s sparked serious scientific discussions about building an electronic brain. In the late 1940s, computer scientists were using Lisp programming language to create the first artificial intelligence computer program, Logic Theorist.
As AI becomes more advanced, governments will need to figure out what the broad goals of AI are. In general, governments should avoid cracking open AI “black boxes” and regulating individual algorithms. While governments are rightly concerned with AI, regulating specific algorithms would limit innovation and make it more difficult for companies to use the technology. One concern is bias and discrimination. Developing laws that protect consumers and promote trust in AI are necessary.
AI has come a long way since its inception, but it still struggles to reach the point of human intelligence. While it has a very long way to go, recent developments have been exciting. OpenAI has produced AI agents that invented their own language. Facebook has trained AI agents to negotiate and lie, and by 2020, it is expected that an AI system will be able to write and speak like a human. The software used for this is called Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), which is trained on billions of articles in the English language on the open web.
As the field continues to advance, China has made strides in artificial intelligence. In 2015, China ranked fourth in the number of AI-related papers, with less than half of that of Germany. However, in the years that followed, China slowly rose up the index, and by 2019 it was the second most prolific country. This increased output by 340%. In comparison, the US, the UK, and Germany grew by more than double in that same time.
While the 1960s brought great advances in AI, the early 1970s saw a backlash against the idea of machines with the capacity to replicate human thought. One major problem was that machines were incapable of solving simple tasks. This required powerful computational power to accomplish the task. By the late 1980s, powerful computational power was available. This accelerated the development of artificial intelligence. This was a significant step forward in the field of computing research.
After years of research and development, AI products began entering the mainstream. In 2002, Google introduced its Roomba vacuum cleaner. A year later, Facebook and Google started using AI technology. In 2010, IBM Watson beat the world chess champion Lee Sedol. Google released its first speech recognition feature for their iPhone app. Then, in 2011, Waymo released Waymo One, a service that enables a person to pick up from their self-driving vehicle.
The concept of intelligent inanimate objects dates back to ancient times. The Greek god Hephaestus was depicted in myths as forging robot-like servants. The Egyptians created statues of gods animated by priests. Philosophers and thinkers throughout history have described the thought processes of their time with the tools and logic available to them. This development laid the foundations for concepts such as general knowledge representation.
When AI is programmed, it learns to perform complex tasks by using a variety of artificial methods. The most common of these methods is to build algorithms, which are self-correcting. This AI is capable of understanding language and interacting with other senses. Currently, this technology is being used to create self-driving cars. The technology behind such technologies is astounding. With the technology available today, there is no reason that it cannot improve the lives of people everywhere.
Today, we can make AI systems that are just like human brains. Self-driving cars are a big step forward in the field of autonomous vehicles. The Tesla Autopilot system is still in assisted driving mode, and the Full Self-Driving option has only just been released into the beta testing program. It is only a matter of time before autonomous vehicles become a reality. But in the meantime, AI-powered systems are a vital part of the technology.