Fundamentals

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The simulation of human intelligence by computer systems, enabling machines to learn, reason, and solve problems.

Definition

Artificial Intelligence is the broad field of computer science aimed at creating systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence — such as understanding language, recognising images, making decisions, and learning from experience.

AI encompasses many techniques, from rule-based expert systems and search algorithms to modern machine learning and deep learning. The field was formally established at the 1956 Dartmouth Conference and has experienced multiple cycles of excitement and disappointment ("AI winters") before the current renaissance driven by deep learning, big data, and GPU computing.

Today, AI is split into "narrow AI" (systems excelling at specific tasks, like chess or image recognition) and the theoretical "AGI" (systems with general human-like reasoning). All deployed commercial AI today is narrow AI.

Examples

  • ChatGPT
  • DALL-E
  • AlphaGo
  • Siri
  • Gmail spam filter