The AI and I: Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. [Part 1 of 3]
WHAT IS AI AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of our modern lives, revolutionizing industries, transforming the way we interact with technology, and shaping the future of humanity. Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, there’s been an influx of interest in AI. Though it seems novel, AI has actually been around for a long time – more than 70 years! The Cold War became a race of technological advancement. During this tense and politically-charged time, scientists toyed with the concept of creating machines capable of intelligent behavior.
THE BEGINNING
The renowned British mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, proposed the “Turing Test” in 1950, a benchmark to determine a machine's ability to exhibit human-like intelligence. This landmark concept laid the foundation for future AI research.
During the 1960s, AI researchers focused on developing rule-based systems. These early AI programs utilized logical rules to make decisions and solve problems. Although promising, these systems had limitations and could not handle complex real-world scenarios.Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
THE MIDDLE
Fast-forward 30 years to the 1990s. This decade witnessed a resurgence of AI research, largely driven by advancements in machine learning techniques. Researchers focused on training computers to improve their performance through experience, paving the way for modern AI applications. The real MVP of AI advancement however, was a little thing called “The World Wide Web.”
The Internet ignited an explosion in AI's capabilities. The 2000s saw a convergence of AI with big data, enabling AI systems to leverage vast amounts of information for better decision-making and prediction. Additionally, deep learning emerged as a powerful subset of machine learning, allowing neural networks to analyze and process complex data with unprecedented accuracy. These advancements fueled significant progress in areas like computer vision, natural language processing, and robotics.
THE END?
Though we either don’t realize it or don’t want to realize it (ignorance is bliss?), we’ve been surrounded by AI for a hot minute. Facial recognition on smartphones, voice recognition applications like Alexa and Siri, self-driving cars, recommended movies with streaming services, targeted “personalized” ads on social media platforms, and even everyday tools like grammar checkers all use artificial intelligence.
The advent of AI “chatbots” like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing, and Google’s Bard are revolutionary because of their accessibility. You don’t need to work for a tech giant to be able to use it. You only need to make an account and the tool is at your command free of charge.
I DUNNO ABOUT THIS…
The arrival of AI chatbots has been likened to the arrival of the Internet. If you want a good laugh, go back and watch an interview on the Today Show from 1995 as Katie Couric and her co-hosts struggle to understand what this “internet” is how email works (What does the “@” mean? Does it mean “about” or “around?”) They had never seen it before. It wasn’t anything new – in fact the “@” has been around since the Renaissance when it served as shorthand for the Greco-Roman word “amphora” (a two-handled jug that served as a unit of measure).
Watching news anchors try to explain this foreign concept of the Internet and voice their fears is comical to us now 30 years later. I’m sure our kids and our kids’ kids will laugh at us trying to figure out how to use AI 30 years from now. The bottom line is, AI is not going anywhere. It will replace jobs, but it will replace the jobs of those who don’t use it.
WHAT CAN I DO TO GET AHEAD OF THIS THING?
In this mini series of three blog posts we will explore the “Big 3” chatbots and learn how to harness their power to save time, money, and energy. I don’t know about you, but I always seem to be short on these three things, so I’m all in! See you in the next episode! 🚀
Fun Fact: Parts of this article are written with ChatGPT. (Don’t worry, all content was placed in a plagiarism checker to make sure it was 100% unique.) Can you spot the parts written by AI?
