Artificial Intelligence - Essay Example

Artificial Intelligence Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the scientific attempt to build computational models of cognitive processes. It aims to study the computations that make it possible to reason, perceive and act. It differs from psychology because of greater emphasis on computation. In Artificial Intelligence, the aim is to make electronic computer systems to perform tasks that would usually be considered intelligent if done by a human. It is mainly concerned with the analogy between particular computer programs and how they emulate the human mind (Russell & Norving 65). The scientific goal of Artificial intelligence is to solve real world problems faced by humans using knowledge and assembled systems. Artificial intelligence requires skills of understanding how knowledge can be represented and the methods of how to use that knowledge. The main aim of AI is to improve human life and reduce risks faced by humans (Millington & Funge 235). According to the late pioneer of Artificial Intelligence, Allan Newell, man-made world would be permeated by systems to cushion it from danger. With the advent of new age computers, the dream of smart computers has become a reality. There are many resins and advantages why people should study AI. One of the main ones is because scientists want to extend the range of things and tasks that can be performed by computers. The ‘ability’ of computers keeps growing with changing times. The limitations are virtually boundless. The other main reason is the interest in technological applications in the AI field. These spread out to all disciplines that use any form of computers or electronics to achieve tasks. Examples of these fields include; Medicine, manufacturing, farming, education, housework, research and development and science in general. In business, computers are also very helpful and essential (Marsland 345). Due to the intelligent and adaptive nature of AI, systems can help locate pertinent information. Discussion Artificial Intelligence computers are commonly known as intelligent systems. This is attributed to their ability to learn from examples and use the statistics or data fed to them to solve problems. Most learning programs are either experience or data oriented. The systems use a knowledge base created with many different aspects to simulate experiences. These experience oriented systems use common sense knowledge to discover how people usually reason about new experiences (Marsland 213). This stimulates a reaction. Data oriented systems create programs to specifically search and mine for data in databases to get exploitable regularities. These intelligent systems can give answers to questions using free text and structured data. AI is becoming more essential to us and yet less conspicuous. The rapid development of this field has helped business people achieve strategic business goals. Challenges The AI field has been incorporated in many industries, and this has brought about their growth. This incorporation is by the development of intelligent agents that are set put to complete the different tasks and requirements needed by the field. This, however, does not come without challenges. Some of the challenges faced include; the need for information exchange with databases in the mainframe. The need to provide rapid hardware recoveries should failures occurs is a major function of AI that presents many challenges. The need for effective information distribution to all personnel involved in system development is another crucial function that is challenging (Russell & Norving 104). These are some of the problems that should be addressed to achieve successful implementation of an AI system. Some examples of successful implementation are discussed in the following paragraph. Siri is an application developed by the Apple Company, to help users interact better with their mobile phones. It is considered an intelligent agent that acts as a personal assistant and has access to knowledge navigation. The main platform used for user interaction with the device is the use of natural language. The user issues commands to the phone via the voice interface, and the application sends the requests, delegating to different web applications, to perform these tasks. One of the main characteristics of intelligent systems is being adaptive, and this is shown here. The application adapts to the users schedule, and preferences over time and automatically generates results. These include places to eat, alarms, favorite music, directions and other individual preferences. The development of Siri involved a lot of data collection to create the appropriate responses that it gives to queries by the user. This involves programming that recognizes a particular set of words that simulate a response. This database is run online, and the environment is constantly updated to keep the responses relevant. As the application continues to operate, Apple keeps collecting information from it to improve its performance. The more users interact with Siri, the more the information Apple will collect, leading to better responses from Siri. Another example of an intelligent system is the stock market system. In the stock market, shares change value virtually every second. Computer systems were developed to monitor these changes and help traders make correct choices about their stocks. These intelligent systems are data oriented in that, they collect all the relevant data about the stocks and generate responses appropriately and accurately. These systems are common in Wall Street where a lot of the stock exchange takes place. In the military, a lot of data collection and intelligence is also necessary. Most of the data gathering and surveillance is done by drones. These are intelligent drones programmed to only monitor. They are usually sent to places where human surveillance is not very east. This is an example of the application of intelligent systems. The military leads in research and development of new systems to improve human lives, and reduce the risk posed to soldiers during wars. Conclusion Artificial intelligence is rapidly improving in development and growth. It has been embedded into most systems, to improve performance (Bishop 145). My analysis and opinion of AI is that the integration of intelligent systems has led to tremendous growth in different industries. With time, most computer systems will be converted to intelligent systems. This is the goal that scientists are working towards. With the analysis of the example discussed in this essay, it is evident that Artificial Intelligent systems improve lives and will continue to do so (Bishop 457). The criteria followed to achieve successful application include, clear problem definition, implementation of procedure to achieve task, feasibility of the solution to be applied and opportunities brought with it. With this guidance, AI application can be done successfully. Works cited Bishop, M. C. Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning. New York: Springer, 2007. Print. Marsland, Stephen. Machine Learning: An Algorithmic Perspective. London: Chapman and Hall, 2009. Print. Millington, Ian and Funge, John. Artificial Intelligence for Games. Massachusetts: Morgan Kauffmann, 2009. Print. Russell, Stuart and Norving, Peter. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Read More