What Progress Has Been Made With Artificial Intelligence? Essay

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Introduction

Today, it is hard to imagine a modern world without technologies and sustainable development. Certain progress and new achievements are usually expected in various industries and fields, and people’s lives depend on the results. Artificial intelligence was probably one of the best and most significant discoveries in the 20th century. Machines were proved to have intelligence along with their abilities to interpret data, set and achieve goals, and complete tasks. Several problems and concerns, including planning, control, and perception, exist in the field of computer science. Artificial intelligence is a solution with certain positive and negative aspects.

Many people find this technological success as a realization of multiple dreams and human demands. Still, some groups call into question the need for such techniques although their evolution remains consistent and reasonable. This research paper aims to define the scope of artificial intelligence progress by analyzing its history, current benefits and challenges, and further applications from business or entertainment perspectives.

Essence and Background of Artificial Technology

Many technologies were developed by people to facilitate their lives, increase productivity, and improve the quality of their work. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the transformative technologies available today (Marr). According to Dunjko and Briegel, AI contains a variety of fields and concepts, including the necessity to understand human capacities, abstract all the aspects of work, and realize similar aptitudes (simulation) in machines (6). AI techniques are frequently applied in such spheres as medicine, education, economics, and engineering.

First attempts to create intelligent machines were made in the middle of the 20th century; however, the interest in this field had roots from ancient times. Alan Turing was a pioneer in the AI industry who was known due to the creation of the test to check machine intelligence (Dunjko and Briegel 58). The Turing test compares the intelligent behaviors of machines to those of humans by judging human-machine conversations. This test was defined as a classic evaluator of the effectiveness of AI technologies, proving the correctness of the chosen direction (Müller and Bostrom 559).

Five years later, John McCarthy coined the term “artificial intelligence” and explained it as an ability of the machine to stimulate any features of human intelligence” (Müller and Bostrom 555). This concept was turned into a guiding idea that could be discussed through the prism of computationalism and connectionism. Computationalism is the possibility to perform mental functions and formal operations on symbols, and connectionism identifies mental and behavioral phenomena in simple unit networks where mimicking is applied (Dunjko and Briegel 6). Industrial and personal robots, chatbots, and personal assistants were integrated with time.

Benefits and Challenges

As well as any technology that becomes a crucial part of human life, AI has its pros and cons that have been revealed during its progress. People continue conducting investigations to realize if AI is a threat or a helpful tool for a modern citizen. Firstly, progress makes it possible to reduce the number of mistakes and increase stable and effective algorithms. For example, a collection of quantum algorithms can be used to complete linear algebra tasks, succeed in simulation, and compute properties (Dunjko and Briegel 4).

In business, AI strategies are created to identify the core of a working process and make a decision deprived of additional emotions, unnecessary background information, and personal judgments (Marr). Quick and correct decisions, continuous work (no need to take some rest compared to humans), and the possibility to function even in risky situations are the benefits of modern AI technologies.

At the same time, the evident progress of AI does not hide certain shortages of these technologies or even promote new problems and concerns. For example, it is a well-known fact that almost all AI products and services are not cheap, and people need to spend a lot of money to buy and sustainably use at least one of them. Some users are afraid to become dependent on AI and the functions intelligent machines could perform. Although Dunjko and Briegel underlined that some restrictions on AI models do not prevent the solution of interesting tasks, limitations cannot be ignored (3). AI machines work by certain programs and tasks.

Some algorithms cannot be broken or changed as soon as the same machine is used in a new environment. In 1998, the first emotionally intelligent robot was introduced to the public. It had to respond to human emotions and predict the expectations of users. Nowadays, Hello Barbie toy work under the same algorithm to become appropriate for a particular user (Marr). Still, restrictions in terms of communication and commonly used phrases exist.

Intelligent Business and Entertainment

Progress with AI can also be observed in terms of the goals people set when they decide to use these techniques. For example, in the middle of the 20th century, the purpose was to understand and predict the scope of AI implementation. Primary achievements were directed to improve technical processes and facilitate the physical activities of humans, and this process was known as artificial general intelligence (AGI) (Müller and Bostrom 558).

In several decades, improvements were made in the field of communication and the promotion of human critical thinking. The intention to make machines smarter so that they can think and act like humans or even better was made (Marr). Nowadays, many organizations want to turn back to the initial goals and use AI machines only for technical purposes (Müller and Bostrom 558). This decision is explained as the necessity to reduce human dependence on technologies and increase the worth of human-made decisions, freedoms, and rights. In other words, certain progress has already been achieved, and potential benefits and threats have been recognized. Now, it is necessary not to cross the line between blessing discovery and a dangerous threat.

Conclusion

In general, a more than the 70-year-old experience of people in the field of artificial intelligence proves that technologies can be either become some helpful tools or create certain unpredictable challenges. Actions and work should be based on a decision of humans but not the results of technological algorithms. Sometimes, people want to reduce the amount of work they need to perform. However, instead of obtaining something new, there is a threat of losing something important. The progress of AI is evident and cannot be ignored due to several lessons, ethical dilemmas, and improvements in different spheres of life.

Optimization of business processes, time control, and new opportunities are the benefits that demonstrate human evolution and technological advancement. Financial aspects and moral dependence are the factors that still may restrict the spread of AI technologies.

Works Cited

Dunjko, Vedran, and Hans J. Briegel. “Reports of Progress in Physics, vol. 81, no. 7, 2018. Web.

Marr, Bernard. “Forbes. 2019. Web.

Müller, Vincent C., and Nick Bostrom. “Future Progress in Artificial Intelligence: A Survey of Expert Opinion.” Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence, edited by Vincent C. Müller, Springer, 2016, pp. 555-572.

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