Artificial intelligence

"Man has long feared the rise of the machine – his own creation becoming smarter and more intelligent than he. But while artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly changing our world and powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, humanity does not need to be afraid."

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer program or a machine to think and learn. It is also a field of study which tries to make computers "smart". They work on their own without being encoded with commands. John McCarthy came up with the name "Artificial Intelligence" in 1955.

AI has many advantages: reduction in human error, risk-taking in place of humans, 24/7 availability, help in repetitive jobs, digital assistance and faster decision-taking.

From smartphones to chatbots, artificial intelligence is already ubiquitous in our digital lives. You just might not know it yet. The momentum behind AI is building, thanks in part to the massive amounts of data that computers can gather about our likes, our purchases and our movements every day. And specialists in artificial intelligence research use all that data to train machines how to learn and predict what we want—or detest.

AI can relieve humans of various repetitive tasks. The technology can learn work once and repeat it, as many times as desired by its human programmer. AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks, from chess-playing computers to self-driving cars, which rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing.

The basic objective of Artificial Intelligence, or the stimulation of cognitive behavior, is to enable computers to perform such intellectual tasks as decision making, problem solving, perception, understanding human communication in any language and translating among them. AI is not only a technology; it is more and more part of our daily lives.

The dangers that AI can pose in the future are:

1. Invasion of privacy

2. Autonomous weapons

3. Loss of human jobs

4. AI terrorism

AI will become an integral part of our lives and it is time to prepare for the age of AI by investing in education and training. It has its advantages and disadvantages. It has the factors that support it be a boon or bane. But still, there is a debate and we'll come to know in the future whether it proves to be boon or bane. The choice remains ours to upgrade our skills and be part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.