Artificial Intelligence is probably one of the most discussed terms at present time. Wherever you go, people are restlessly looking for the answers of – How intelligent machines can make our lives better? Some consider it to be the biggest threat against humanity, while others go with the more positive approach of AI serving them in almost every way.
In very simple words, Artificial Intelligence is a division of computer science which focuses on re-engineering machines and computers that can mimic intelligent behavior. These systems can carry out the tasks like visual interpretation, voice recognition, language translations, etc. which are related to human intelligence.
To have a clear idea of “What is Artificial Intelligence & What it is capable of?” here are some very important basics which constitute an Artificial Intelligence system. The whole concept of AI revolves around the following practices:
- Algorithms
- Natural Language Processing
- Machine Learning
- Computer Vision
- Deep Learning
Let’s know a bit more about each of the above…
- Algorithms: An Algorithm is a chain of mathematical commands that a machine follows in order to execute a task. For instance, put it this way: perform A, then B, after that C. Similarly, for an AI system, the programmers design algorithms which instructs computer to see the data, locate the issue and then learn from its tries to solve the problem.
- Natural Language Processing: This phenomenon deals with how we can make computers to interpret, process and use the human language. For natural language processing, the computer must be capable enough to “interpret” massive information which includes everything from accents and slangs, to syntax and grammar rules. If we take the example of speech recognition system, initially human voice is used as audio data, which, on the next level, transformed to text data. Later, this text data can be used by an “intelligent” machine for applications like translators or devices like TVs.
- Machine Learning: It is one of the various algorithms, used in an Artificial Intelligence system. Machine learning follows the concept that system learns from data, recognize patterns and be able to take decisions with no or minimum human interference. There are a huge number of applications using these algorithms, most common are – music suggestions, spam detection and fraud identification.
- Computer Vision: Now, this is a very interesting and tricky part of an AI system. Computer vision is designed to help computers recognize and process visuals or images, just like humans. The same way we learn to differentiate between faces of people, computer vision teaches the machines to identify non-identical objects that it “sees” with the help of a camera. It takes observing every single pixel, distinguishing between different colors and converting them to numeric data, then searching patterns to identify textures and pixels of similar color. This, as a result, helps in identifying dissimilar objects.
- Deep Learning: Deep learning is a system that makes use of neural network, a form of machine learning imitation, designed similar to a human nervous system. In this kind of network, artificial nerve cells are arranged in interlinked layers. The input layer gets data from outside and the output layer instructs how the system will respond to that data. Between input and output, there are dozens or sometimes hundreds of unseen layers of neurons which process the queries by assigning a numerical value to the data they get from preceding layer and sharing it with the next layer in the network. The neural network can solve very complex problems because of large amount of artificial neurons working together.