What Is AI?

Have you ever wondered how AI came to be? How did ChatGPT develop? Who is “Siri”? Find out everything you need to know about the rise of AI and advancing technology, including future applications and concerns, in this informative book that features 16 pages of photos. It all began in 1822 when an English mathematician created the “Difference Engine,” the world’s first mechanical calculating machine. Fast-forward two hundred years, and cars are beginning to drive themselves! How did this technology advance? Over a series of trials and errors, steps forward and back, AI, or artificial intelligence, has most steadily developed since the 1950s. By the ''90s, AI technology began interacting with people in laboratories and at conferences, dazzling the world with its impressive knowledge and capabilities.;The simulation of human intelligence by machines continues to revolutionize healthcare, transportation, and efficiency across the world. Learn all;about this problem-solving facet of the computer science industry and where it might take us in the future.

Autorentext

Wes Locher is a writer of prose, journalism, video games, and comic books. In 2021, he published the first two titles of his "tiny books" series: Networking, How Do You Do It, and Why Is It So Scary? and Game Writing: What It Is, What It Isn't, and How To Get Started. He has authored several books in the Who HQ nonfiction series for young readers.

Leseprobe
**What Is AI?

**
For more than seventy years, making computers that are smarter than humans has been the goal of some computer scientists (people who build and program computers). Since the creation of computers in the 1950s, scientists have fantasized about the possibilities of artificial intelligence, or AI. AI is a tool that helps computers to identify patterns, solve problems, and perform tasks by analyzing data.

As computers have become more powerful, AI is now a part of our everyday lives. Once, we picked up a telephone and made a call to a restaurant. People now type with AI to learn how soon their online order will be delivered. There was a time when we wrote down reminders and appointments, but now we ask a digital assistant, such as Siri or Alexa, to add them to our calendars. And we once relied on paper maps. But now AI shows and tells us turn-by-turn directions to work or school.

The goal of artificial intelligence is efficiency. A computer program can analyze a process and decide the fastest way to complete a task or chore. Though the term “artificial intelligence” might sound like movie magic, AI is simply computer programs designed by humans that follow a set of directions that have been created by a computer engineer or software developer.

This isn’t a new idea. In fact, every video game we play, every website we visit, and every phone app we download are just computer programs that follow the directions of the person who made them.

But there are big differences between video games and AI. A video game recognizes only the data it has been given. Meanwhile, AI can handle large amounts of information, rapidly analyze it, and make a quick decision on how to react to what it “sees.” How AI interprets that information is what makes it an “intelligence.”

In the last forty years alone, AI has become more powerful than ever. But with each passing year, AI becomes stronger, faster, and smarter. The long-term goal for many computer scientists is to create AI systems that have the same intellectual abilities as humans...or beyond.