Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is not a new thing but only made more popular with the 2001 release of Steven's Spielberg movie AI. Daniel Crevier (1-3) gave a brief history of artificial intelligence as provided by the world's historians and those in the pages of literature. From Egyptian accounts of the statue of Amon who would grab the rightful future pharaoh by the hand, reciting a consecrating speech, to Homer's story of Daedalus who created Talos, a giant made of copper who "patrolled the shores of Crete", to Roger Bacon's talking figures, to Leonardo da Vinci's gift to Louis XII of an automaton lion and to Jacques de Vaucanson's design for an "artificial duck ... that drinks, eats, croaks, splashes in water and digests as a live duck" (Crevier 1993:1-2).

Artificial intelligence has been a source of controversy for a lot of people, precisely because of scenarios presented by the media as well as literature of human-like beings that can act and think like us. The fear imposed is that of these beings having minds of their own and ultimately destroying their makers, replacing human beings as the inhabitants of this earth. Movies like Gattaca, the Terminator series and the Isaac Asimov's screen-adapted book, I, Robot, shows the future of this planet with artificially intelligent entities. However, with the more prominent issue of human cloning, some people actually does not consider this as a near future threat since the introduction of the first cloned human being is more probable than that of a human look-alike being (a cyborg, a robot, etc).

Artificial intelligence (AI) uses computers to "model the behavioral aspects of human reasoning and learning" (2946). Use interchangeably is cybernetics, "which is the analysis of the communication and control processes of biological organisms and their relationship to mechanical and electrical systems". The study of this could eventually lead to 'thinking' robots. A machine learns when the computer' performance is improved through repetition of the tasks on the basis of its programmed application. AI in this sense uses critical trial-and-error in its development.

Anne Jenkins (779) gives three possible development end points for AI: one, hyper-intelligent machines with no volition or consciousness; two, hyper-intelligent human machine mergers that have consciousness; and three, a truly conscious machine. The last one however, has been the subject of great debate since majority of experts believe that a truly conscious machine, with its own will and volition, capable of ambition and self-awareness is highly unlikely. Some critics say that if this is possible, it would certainly not come in this lifetime or the next.

The fact that intelligence as a human trait could very well be over-rated since majority of our present-day machines could solve human problems more logically than we can. However, the prospect of a non-human entity that has our emotional characteristics may also pose a danger to our existence as human beings. The question of technology also arises. Who holds that technology to create these so-called entities? Jenkins says that "the promise of advance technology needs to be balanced by responsibility, from both creator and created".

Currently, artificial intelligence in its primitive forms is already being utilized by a large number of companies on a daily basis. "Every Fortune 500 company has AI applications on-line, in development, or as the subject of a feasibility studies" (Byrne and Franklin 9). Computers are being applied more and more to functions that before require human discretion such as American Express purchases, diagnosis of diesel locomotive faults for GE and advice on tax matters for Arthur Andersen. They are also in use when Westinghouse schedules its production or when Holiday Inn assigns rooms. "Pattern recognition, computer vision, and robotics all employ AI, as do computer programs for chess playing, automated reasoning, and problem solving. Natural language applications of AI range from low-level spelling and grammar checkers to speech recognition and machine translation. There's now an English-to- Spanish translating application on the market for microcomputers" (Byrne and Franklin 9).

An article in the Journal of Small Business Management (Martin, Jones, McWilliams, Nabors 28) also provides many varied fields where AI is being used such as structuring, guiding and improving information processing for decision-making. It can give advice to physicians about infectious disease and help physicists examine unknown molecules and their molecular structures. It can even help the US Navy hunt for submarines and determine a mortgagor's potential to repay his or her loan.

Despite the huge advances in technology that occurs on a daily basis and the obvious need and reliance we have for artificial intelligence in our daily lives, we are still far from developing the super robots/cyborgs we envision the future to be with. Some writers (Murray, C09) contend that intelligence doesn't only require logical reasoning but languages. Human intelligence work because we think in languages, compared to computers who think in numbers. "Computers do arithmetic in a hurry. It is a bear of a problem to turn arithmetic into an understanding of English" (Murray C09). While we think in context of words and associate them to other words based on experience, computers with artificial intelligence do not have that capability.
We are still a long way from realizing our dreams of a truly conscious robot but writers have not been discouraged to give their predictions on what the future of artificial intelligence will be like. They describe an Age of Merging (2010-2020) when intelligent computers will be available with 3-D internet, radio and television and mobile phones among others, activated through voice recognition. Direct human to internet connection will be possible through the use of implanted chips. By 2020 to 2030, the Age of Self-Reliance will allow computers and networks to repair itself, human-to-human communication through implanted chips and laws recognizing robot rights. And by 2030 to 2040, AI can now copy human intellect regulated only by laws for such copies (Stedron 28). Call it ludicrous, call it impossible but some people would like to see it is as a hopeful forecast of our future.
Works Cited

Artificial Intelligence. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. New York: 2007.

Byrne, Paul, J. & Franklin, Stanley. Can Your Business Use Artificial Intelligence? Business Perspectives. Volume: 3. Issue: 3. Spring 1990: 9+.
Crevier, Daniel. AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence. New York. 1993: 1-3.

Jenkins, Anne. Artificial Intelligence and the Real World. Futures. Volume: 35. Issue: 7. 2003. 779+.

Martin, Warren S.; Jones, Warren T.; McWilliams, Evan; Nabors, M. Vernon. Developing Artificial Intelligence Applications: A Small Business Development Center Case Study. Journal of Small Business Management. Volume: 29. Issue: 4. 1991: 28+.

Murray, Frank. Artificial Intellect Remains Elusive. The Washington Times. April 22, 2004: C09.Stedron, Bohumir. Forecasts for Artificial Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence May Become Not Only Smarter, but Also Wiser and More Independent. We Must Now Look Ahead and Prepare for the Impacts of Machines That May Merge with Us Manage Us, Mimic Us or Leave Us in the Dust. The Futurist. Volume: 38. Issue: 2. March-April 2004: 24+.