What is AI?

Artificial intelligence is a field of computer science that attempts to create machines that act rationally in response to their environment. An AI is any machine that perceives its environment and chooses actions that maximize the likelihood of achieving a goal of some kind. Essentially, an AI is just a machine that takes data as input and produces the best possible output given what it currently knows. Some examples of AI include: computers that can play chess, robots that can vacuum your floor, non-player characters in video games, and navigation software on your smart phone. Any computer algorithm that replicates some aspect of human intelligence or natural intelligence is essentially a form of artificial intelligence.

00:41 - Now, when I say “artificial intelligence”, many of you will immediately think of sentient robots like: R2D2, Data from Star Trek, or HAL 9000. This is what we refer to as Artificial General Intelligence or “general AI”. General AI can solve a wide variety of general-purpose problems. It’s a type of futuristic AI that doesn’t currently exist today. In fact, it will likely be several decades before we reach this level of highly flexible and adaptable AI. However, this is the direction that things are moving and the eventual goal of many AI research projects. On the other hand, many of you will think of modern AI like: IBM’s Watson, Amazon Alexa, or Google’s self-driving car? This is what we call Artificial Narrow Intelligence or “narrow AI”. Narrow AI is focused on solving a very narrow set of specific problems. It’s the type of AI that exists today. The type of AI that we’re going to be talking about during this course. However, it’s also the type of AI that will likely revolutionize our world over the next few decades.

01:39 - To learn more, please click the link in the description. For more content like this, please be sure to like, share, and subscribe. .