Intelligence is

• Ability to interact with the real world

o To perceive, understand and act ▪ Example: Speech Recognition – Understanding
and synthesis ▪ Example: Image Recognition ▪ Example: Ability to take action: to
have an effect
• Reasoning and planning
o Modelling the external world, given input ▪ Solving new problems, planning and
making decisions ▪ Ability to deal with unexpected problems, uncertainties
• Learning and adaptation
o Continuous learning and adapting graph ▪ Our internal models are always being
updated ▪ Example: Baby learning to categorize and recognise animals
How do you make decisions?
• The basis of decision making depends upon the availability of information
and how we experience and understand it.
• For the purposes of this article, ‘information’ includes our past experience,
intuition, knowledge, and self-awareness. We can’t make “good” decisions
without information because then we have to deal with unknown factors
and face uncertainty, which leads us to make wild guesses, flipping coins, or
rolling a dice.
• Having knowledge, experience, or insights given a certain situation, helps us
visualize what the outcomes could be. and how we can achieve/avoid those
outcomes.
• What is Artificial Intelligence?
When a machine possesses the ability to mimic human traits, i.e., make
decisions, predict the future, learn and improve on its own, it is said to
have artificial intelligence.
In other words, you can say that a machine is artificially intelligent
when it can accomplish tasks by itself - collect data, understand it,
analyse it, learn from it, and improve it. You will get to know more
about it in the next unit. But, what makes a machine intelligent?
• How do machines become Artificially Intelligent?
Machines also become intelligent once they are trained with some
information which helps them achieve their tasks. AI machines also
keep updating their knowledge to optimise their output.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence around us
1. Every now and then, we surf the internet for things on Google without realizing how efficiently Google always
responds to us with accurate answers. Not only does it come up with results to our search in a matter of
seconds, it also suggests and autocorrects our typed sentences.
2. We nowadays have pocket assistants that can do a lot of tasks at just one command. Alexa, Google Assistant,
Cortana, Siri are some very common examples of the voice assistants which are a major part of our digital
devices.
3. To help us navigate to places, apps like UBER and Google Maps come in haman. Thus, one no longer needs to
stop repeatedly to ask for directions.
4. AI has completely enhanced the gaming experience for its users. A lot of games nowadays are backed up with AI
which helps in enhancing the graphics, come up with new difficulty levels, encourage gamers, etc.
5. AI has not only made our lives easier but has also been taking care of our habits, likes, and dislikes. This is why
platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube etc. show us recommendations on the basis of what we like.
6. Well, the recommendations are not just limited to our preferences, they even cater to our needs of connecting
with friends on social media platforms with apps like Facebook and Instagram. They also send us customized
notifications about our online shopping details, auto-create playlists according to our requests and so on. Taking
selfies was never this fun as Snapchat filters make them look so cool.
7. This isn’t all. AI is also being used to monitor our health. A lot of chatbots and other health apps are available,
which continuously monitor the physical and mental health of its users.
8. These applications are not limited to smart devices but also vary to humanoids like Sophia, the very first
humanoid robot sophisticated enough to get citizenship, biometric security systems like the face locks we have
in our phones, real-time language translators, weather forecasts, and whatnot! This list is huge, and this module
will go on forever if we keep tabulating them. So, take some time, discuss with a friend and identify more and
more AI applications around you!
• What is not AI?
• As we discussed earlier, any machine that has been trained with data and can make decisions/predictions on
its own can be termed as AI. Here, the term ‘training’ is important.
• A fully automatic washing machine can work on its own, but it requires human intervention to select the
parameters of washing and to do the necessary preparation for it to function correctly before each wash,
which makes it an example of automation, not AI.
• An air conditioner can be turned on and off remotely with the help of internet but still needs a human touch.
This is an example of Internet of Things (IoT). Also, every now and then we get to know about robots which
might follow a path or maybe can avoid obstacles but need to be primed accordingly each time.
• We also get to see a lot of projects which can automate our surroundings with the help of sensors. Here too,
since the bot or the automation machine is not trained with any data, it does not count as AI.
• Also, it would be valid to say that not all the devices which are termed as "smart" are AI-enabled. For
example, a TV does not become AI-enabled if it is a smart one, it gets the power of AI when it is able to think
and process on its own.
• Just as humans learn how to walk and then improve this skill with the help of their experiences, an AI
machine too gets trained first on the training data and then optimises itself according to its own experiences
which makes AI different from any other technological device/machine. But well, surely these other
technologies too can be integrated with AI to provide the users with a much better and immersive
experience! Robotics and AI can definitely open the doors to humanoids and self-driving cars, AI when
merged with Internet of things can give rise to cloud computing of data and remote access of AI tools,
automation along with AI can help in achieving voice automated homes and so on. Such integrations can
help us get the best of both worlds
In other words, AI can be defined as: AI is a form of Intelligence; a type of
technology and a field of study. AI theory and development of computer
systems (both machines and software) enables machines to perform tasks
that normally require human intelligence. Artificial Intelligence covers a
broad range of domains and applications and is expected to impact every
field in the future. Overall, its core idea is building machines and algorithms
which are capable of performing computational tasks that would otherwise
require human like brain functions.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Refers to any technique that enables computers to mimic human intelligence. It
gives the ability to machines to recognize a human’s face; to move and manipulate objects; to understand
the voice commands by humans, and also do other tasks. The AI-enabled machines think algorithmically
and execute what they have been asked for intelligently.
• Machine Learning (ML) It is a subset of Artificial Intelligence which enables machines to improve at tasks
with experience (data). The intention of Machine Learning is to enable machines to learn by themselves
using the provided data and make accurate Predictions/ Decisions
• Deep Learning (DL) It enables software to train itself to perform tasks with vast amounts of data. In Deep
Learning, the machine is trained with huge amounts of data which helps it in training itself around the
data. Such machines are intelligent enough to develop algorithms for themselves. Deep Learning is the
most advanced form of Artificial Intelligence out of these three. Then comes Machine Learning which is
intermediately intelligent and Artificial Intelligence covers all the concepts and algorithms which, in some
way or the other mimic human intelligence. There are a lot of applications of AI out of which few are those
which come under ML out of which very few can be labelled as DL. Therefore, Machine Learning (ML) and
Deep Learning (DL) are part of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but not everything that is Machine learning will
be Deep learning.
Introduction to AI Domains
Artificial Intelligence becomes intelligent according to the training
which it gets. For training, the machine is fed with datasets. According
to the applications for which the AI algorithm is being developed, the
data which is fed into it changes. With respect to the type of data fed in
the AI model, AI models can be broadly categorised into three domains:
• Data Sciences
• Data sciences is a domain of AI related to data systems and processes, in which the system
collects numerous data, maintains data sets and derives meaning/sense out of them.
• The information extracted through data science can be used to make a decision about it.
• Example of Data Science
• Price Comparison Websites
• These websites are being driven by lots and lots of data. If you have ever used these websites,
you would know, the convenience of comparing the price of a product from multiple vendors
at one place. PriceGrabber, PriceRunner, Junglee, Shopzilla, DealTime are some examples of
price comparison websites. Now a days, price comparison website can be found in almost
every domain such as technology, hospitality, automobiles, durables, apparels etc.
• Computer Vision
Computer Vision, abbreviated as CV, is a domain of AI that depicts the capability of
a machine to get and analyse visual information and afterwards predict some
decisions about it. The entire process involves image acquiring, screening,
analysing, identifying and extracting information. This extensive processing helps
computers to understand any visual content and act on it accordingly. In computer
vision, Input to machines can be photographs, videos and pictures from thermal or
infrared sensors, indicators and different sources.
Computer vision related projects translate digital visual data into descriptions. This
data is then turned into computer-readable language to aid the decision-making
process. The main objective of this domain of AI is to teach machines to collect
information from pixels.
Examples of Computer Vision
• Self-Driving cars/ Automatic Cars CV systems scan live objects and
analyse them, based on whether the car decides to keep running or to
stop.
• Face Lock in Smartphones Smartphones nowadays come with the
feature of face locks in which the smartphone’s owner can set up
his/her face as an unlocking mechanism for it. The front camera
detects and captures the face and saves its features during initiation.
Next time onwards, whenever the features match, the phone is
unlocked.
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing, abbreviated as NLP, is a branch of artificial intelligence
that deals with the interaction between computers and humans using the natural
language. Natural language refers to language that is spoken and written by people, and
natural language processing (NLP) attempts to extract information from the spoken and
written word using algorithms. The ultimate objective of NLP is to read, decipher,
understand, and make sense of the human languages in a manilr that is valuable.
• Email filters Email filters are one of the most basic and initial applications of NLP
online. It started out with spam filters, uncovering certain words or phrases that signal
a spam message.
• Smart assistants Smart assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa recognize
patterns in speech, then infer meaning and provide a useful response.
• AI Ethics
• Nowadays, we are moving from the Information era to Artificial Intelligence era. Now we do not use data or
information, but the intelligence collected from the data to build solutions. These solutions can even
recommend the next TV show or movies you should watch on Netflix. We can proudly say that India is
leading in the AI usage trends, so we need to keep aspects relating to ethical practices in mind while
developing solutions using AI. Let us understand some of the ethical concerns in detail. Moral Issues: Self-
Driving Cars
• Scenario 1: Let us imagine that we are in year 2030. Self-Driving cars which are just a concept in today’s time
are now on roads. People like us are buying them for ease and are using it for our daily transits. Of-course
because of all the features which this car has, it is expensive. Now, let us assume, one day your father is
going to office in his self-driving car. He is sitting in the back seat as the car is driving itself. Suddenly, a small
boy comes in front of this car. The incident was so sudden that the car is only able to make either of the two
choices: 1. Go straight and hit the boy who has come in front of the car and injure him severely. 2. Take a
sharp right turn to save the boy and smash the car into a metal pole thus damaging the car as well as injuring
the person sitting in it. With the help of this scenario, we need to understand that the developer of the car
goes through all such dilemmas while developing the car’s algorithm. Thus, here the morality of the
developer gets transferred into the machine as what according to him/her is right would have a higher
priority and hence would be the selection made by the machine. If you were in the place of this developer
and if there was no other alternative to the situation, which one of the two would you prioritise and why?
• Scenario 2: Let us now assume that the car has hit the boy who came in front of it. Considering this as an
accident, who should be held responsible for it? Why? 1. The person who bought this car 2. The
Manufacturing Company 3. The developer who developed the car’s algorithm 4. The boy who came in front
of the car and got severely injured
• Here, the choices might differ from person to person and one must understand that nobody is wrong in this
case. Every person has a different perspective and hence he/she takes decisions according to their moralities
• Data Privacy
• Let us understand this with the help of some examples:
• 1. When you are talking to your friend on a mobile network or on an app like WhatsApp.
You tell your friend that you wish to buy new shoes and are looking for suggestions from
him/her. You discuss about shoes and that is it. After some time, the online shopping
websites start giving you notifications to buy shoes! They start recommending some of their
products and urge you to you buy some. 2. If you search on Google for a trip to Kerala or
any other destination, just after the search, all the apps on your phone which support
advertisements, will start sending messages about packages that you can buy for the trip.
• 3. Even when you are not using your phone and talking to a person face-to-face about a
book you’ve read recently while the phone is kept in a locked mode nearby, the phone will
end up giving notifications about similar books or messages about the same book once you
operate it.
• In all such examples, how does the smartphone get to know about the discussions and thoughts that
you have? Remember whenever you download an app and install it, it asks you for several
permissions to access your phone’s data in different ways. If you do not allow the app these
permissions, you normally cannot access it. And to access the app and make use of it, we sometimes
don’t even give it a thought and allow the app to get all the permissions that it wants. Hence every
now and then, the app has the permission to access various sensors which are there in your
smartphone and gather data about you and your surroundings. We forget that the smartphone
which we use is a box full of sensors which are powered all the time while the phone is switched on
• We need to understand that the data which is collected by various applications is ethical as the
smartphone users agree to it (by clicking on allow when it asks for permission and by agreeing to all
the terms and conditions). But at the same time if one does not want to share his/her data with
anyone, he/she can opt for alternative applications which are of similar usage and keep your data
private. For example, an alternative to WhatsApp is the Telegram app which does not collect any
data from us. But since WhatsApp is more popular and used by the crowd, people go for it without
thinking twice.
• Another aspect to AI Ethics is bias. Everyone has a bias of their own no matter how much one
tries to be unbiased, we in some way or the other have our own biases even towards smaller
things. Biases are not negative all the time. Sometimes, it is required to have a bias to control
a situation and keep things working. When we talk about a machine, we know that it is
artificial and cannot think on its own. It can have intelligence, but we cannot expect a
machine to have any biases of its own. Any bias can transfer from the developer to the
machine while the algorithm is being developed. Let us look at some of the examples:
• 1. Majorly, all the virtual assistants have a female voice. It is only now that some companies
have understood this bias and have started giving options for male voices but since the virtual
assistants came into practice, female voices are always preferred for them over any other
voice. Can you think of some reasons for this?
• 2. If you search on Google for salons, the first few searches are mostly for female salons. This
is based on the assumption that if a person is searching fora salon, in all probability it would
be a female. Do you think this is a bias? If yes, then is it a Negative bias or Positive one?
• AI Access
• Since Artificial Intelligence is still a budding technology, not everyone has the opportunity to access it.
The people who can afford AI enabled devices make the most of it while others who cannot are left
behind. Because of this, a gap has emerged between these two classes of people and it gets widened
with the rapid advancement of technology. Let us understand this with the help of some examples
• AI creates unemployment
• AI is making people’s lives easier. Most of the things nowadays are done in just a few clicks. In no time
AI will manage to be able to do all the laborious tasks which we humans have been doing since long.
Maybe in the coming years, AI enabled machines will replace all the people who work as labourers.
This may start an era of mass unemployment where people having little or no skills may be left
without jobs and others who keep up with their skills according to what is required, will flourish. This
brings us to a crossroads. On one hand where AI is advancing and improving the lives of people by
working for them and doing some of their tasks, the other hand points towards the lives of people
who are dependent on laborious jobs and are not skilled to do anything else.
• AI for kids
• As we all can see, kids nowadays are smart enough to understand technology from a very
early age. As their thinking capabilities increase, they start becoming techno-savvy and
eventually they learn everything more easily than an adult. But should technology be given
to children so young?
• Consider this: A young boy in class 3 has got some Maths homework to finish. He is sitting
at a table which has the Google chat bot - Alexa on it, and he is struggling with his
homework. Soon, he starts asking Alexa to answer all his questions. Alexa replies with
answers and the boy simply writes them down in his notebook. While this scenario seems
funny, it still has some concerns related to it. On one hand where it is good that the boy
knows how to use technology effectively, on the other hand he uses it to complete his
homework without really learning anything since he is not applying his brain to solve the
Math problems. So, while he is smart, he might not be getting educated properly