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Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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Artificial intelligence (AI)

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine or application which carries out a task that requires some degree of intelligence when carried out by a human being. These tasks could include:

    • the use of a language
    • carrying out a mathematical calculation or function
    • recognising a person’s face
    • the ability to operate machinery, such as a car, an aeroplane or a train
    • analysing data to predict the outcome of a future event, such as weather forecasting

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The impact of AI

  • People often associate AI with science fiction, fantasy and robots.

  • Numerous films and books fuel this association.

  • The science fiction author, Isaac Asimov, went so far as to produce his own three laws of robotics:

    1. A robot may not injure a human through action or inaction.
    2. A robot must obey orders given by humans without question.
    3. A robot must protect itself unless it conflicts with the two laws above.
  • However, AI goes way beyond robotics.

  • It covers a number of areas, such as:

    • autonomous (driverless) vehicles
    • artificial limb technology
    • drones, used to carry out dangerous or unpleasant tasks such as bomb disposal, welding, or entering nuclear disaster areas
    • climate change predictions
    • medical procedures, such as eye operations where extreme precision is required.

The impacts of AI on society, the economy and the environment

Transport

  • Some taxi companies are already looking at the introduction of autonomous (driverless) cars.
  • A customer can call up the taxi using an app on their mobile phone, which also automatically handles the payment.

Criminal justice system

  • Advances in facial recognition systems is making fingerprinting in forensic science almost obsolete.
  • AI is also being used to automate legal work and some courts in the USA have trialled the use of AI to sentence criminals and even decide if a prisoner is eligible for parole.

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AI

(AI) is a machine or application which carries out a task that requires some degree of intelligence when carried out by a human being.

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AI

Choose three different examples of AI

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