For as long as machines have existed, it has been extremely simple for man to differentiate itself from them. Over the past few years however, that differentiating factor between man and machine has been slowly diminishing. In an effort to reduce human effort the reliance of mankind on automation is increasing exponentially every year.
Artificial Intelligence is the new buzzword in technological circles these days and it’s more relevant in our day to day lives now than ever before. From self driving cars to voice activated digital assistants, the rise of AI is a steep and quick one.
Broadly categorised into two categories – “Weak AI” and “Strong AI”, it is basically a computer program or device which is designed to undertake certain activities such as – Speech recognition, planning, learning, problem solving etc. Activities quite close to human abilities.
The differentiating factor between weak and strong AI is the concept of self awareness. As long as a computer software or device is not able to “Feel and perceive” like a human being, it is considered to be a weak AI no matter how humanlike it may appear. Operating on the basis of preset conditions and algorithms, Artificial Intelligence represents some of the most advanced software and electronic development done in the present century.
The most common use of AI has been in the recently popularised digital assistants by various tech giants like Google, Apple and Amazon. Their softwares named – Google home, Siri and Alexa respectively are being used on a mass scale in multiple households to do varied level of tasks from simply playing music on command to opening and shutting lights and other electric appliance by voice command.
Many companies including tech and automotive giants like Tesla and Google have been in the pursuit of developing self driving cars and seem to be getting closer every consecutive year.
The rise and increase in usage of Artificial Intelligence is inevitable, it is for us to decide however whether we continue to use it as our slave or become enslaved in the process.
