by   |    |  Estimated reading time: 5 minutes  |  in Business Technology, IFS Labs   |  tagged , , ,

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a very polarizing subject in that it’s one of the most overhyped subjects. Yet at the same time, AI has the potential to enact many profound developments in so many areas of business, and our lives.

Some people see AI taking over the world within a couple of years, while others think it isn’t even real. As usual, the truth will lie somewhere in the middle. AI brings an incredible number of possibilities, but not everything will be possible in the near future.

In this third blog, we’ll have a look at dispelling some of the myths around AI.

AI is like a person: it can think and solve any problem in the same way that humans can

AI has become a marketing term that is an over-hyped generalization. There is no such thing as general intelligence in any AI yet, and perhaps we don’t need it to be either. If anything, today an AI function is more about teaching a lemur how to get food than a chimpanzee figuring it out for themselves. Still, there are many AI functions that have been created that are very useful and valuable. These functions are typically developed for a very specific purpose, such as natural language processing (NLP), image recognition, search engines, gaming, predictions or specific features in self-driving cars. Being specialized often brings higher business value than being a generalist. If you go see a doctor for a serious life-threatening condition, who would you like to see leading your treatment? A general practitioner or the renowned medical specialist in the field?

It’s very easy to develop an AI, after all, it learns by itself

If only! Even machine learning, being an important part of AI, remains relatively difficult to implement. Of course, there are easier and more difficult challenges, but in general, to implement algorithms that work well for your enterprise application or problem can be quite tedious.

MythOften, the actual machine learning algorithms are easy enough to understand. The challenge is in selecting the right algorithm for the problem and presenting the problem to the algorithm in the correct way. This requires a detailed knowledge of the problem as well as a relatively deep understanding of the capabilities and constraints of the available algorithms and models. Still, this is a problem that’s relatively common throughout computer science.

Complicating matters further is that machine learning needs the correct amount of training so that the model remains general enough to be useful for new problems. Troubleshooting, if it doesn’t work as expected, can be time-consuming since the models built by neural networks, for instance, can be very complex and difficult to understand.

Big data is everywhere

Yes! There is a lot of data out there. A single flight of a Boeing 787 generates 500 GB of data from the various sensors and instruments it carries. At any one time there are more than 170 Boeing 787s in the air, so that’s a lot of data. But often with implementing machine learning algorithms, the question is “do we have the right data?” and also “can we make useful information out of all this data?”

An example that we worked on in IFS Labs is Sentiment Analysis. According to Wikipedia, sentiment analysis (or opinion mining) refers to the use of natural language processing, text analysis and computational linguistics to identify and extract subjective information in source materials.

For example, can you use sentiment analysis on social media to improve the accuracy of predicted future demand, and there is a lot of social media data available, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, etc. In practice, it depends a lot on your actual use-case. If you would like to understand the sentiment on the newest iPhone, you can probably find sufficient data. But if you would like to understand the sentiment on people’s perception of the smart meter installations in a country, it’s already difficult to find sufficient, specific enough data to get meaningful results.

As with any type of analysis, the amount and reliability of underlying datasets are critical to the success of the machine learning and it just isn’t always there.

All of our jobs will be replaced by robots

So far in history, each and every technology revolution has created more jobs than it destroyed. Whether we look at the industrial revolution or the rise of the internet, in the end, more people had a job than before, and often better-paid ones as they were more productive. So, I expect that the benefits of AI will outweigh the disadvantages, especially if people are helped and encouraged to learn the new skills they will need to work alongside intelligent systems.

Also, technological developments often take longer than we initially predict and machines with general intelligence are probably many decades away from being developed if they are possible at all. Therefore, a more likely scenario is that humans and AI will work together, collaborating and enforcing each rather than the pessimistic, but headline-generating doom scenarios.

And although AI technology will provide us the opportunity to augment and partially replace human work while creating new jobs, those new jobs will require higher skilled people. Or, as Gartner is predicting, “already in 2020, AI becomes a positive net job motivator, creating 2.3 million jobs while only eliminating 1.8 million jobs.”

There’s more

This is not everything of course. There are many more statements and quotes out there on AI worth looking into and perhaps most of them can be considered myth as well. As with most things, finding a balance between being optimistic and pessimistic works well for you in AI. Don’t believe everything that’s said, but invest in those opportunities that are actually feasible as they have the potential to change the way we do business.

Do you have questions or comments about AI?

We’d love to hear them so please leave us a message below.

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34 Responses

  1. Avatar

    Google Technical Support

    An ingenious article indeed!!! As the world of AI is under heavy speculation rather than hardcore facts, there roams listless myths about AI na dthe industry as a whole. A much need article !!! thanks…

    Reply
  2. Avatar

    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

    Artificial Intelligence is all about creating and developing machines that act, behave, react and work like human beings themselves. These machines are designed in such a brilliant manner that they are capable of performing activities like Speech Recognition, Learning, Planning, Problem Solving etc.

    Reply
  5. Avatar

    Top Machine Learning Consulting Companies in India

    With the technology advancement, we have often come across the terms like machine learning Deep learning or Artificial intelligence. Machine learning is under the umbrella of the AI which is the process of teaching the machine to operate on its own. Whatever process you use for the learning, data is the main thing. Based on this the technique differs on the availability of the data. Sometimes You can face many problems in machine learning then you can visit the best machine learning consulting companies in India. Feel free to contact us.

    Reply
  7. Avatar

    suman preet

    Thanks for sharing this information. Sometimes you can face many issues regarding artificial intelligence, deep learning, data science, machine learning and IOT.

    Reply
  8. Avatar

    Traffici5

    Artificial Intelligence seems to be one of the most interesting and revolutionary concepts that can effect the business world. I look forward to seeing how these systems reach the forefront for more and more companies.

    Reply
  12. Avatar

    ganesh

    Thanks for sharing with us…..very informative.It provides very useful information on articial intelligence

    Reply
  13. Avatar

    Uber Support

    Hello,
    I am very much grateful for your efforts put on this article,This article is very informative, updated and transparent. Can I expect you will post this type of another article in near future?
    Thank You.

    Reply
  14. Avatar

    nStar

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a very polarizing subject & also over hyped subject.Selecting the right algorithm and presenting the problem to the algorithm in the correct way is really challenging

    Reply
  17. Avatar

    Roku Support

    I think this is one of the best blog for me because this is really helpful for me. Thanks for sharing this valuable information for free

    Reply
  18. Avatar

    rajesh kumar

    thank you for your hard work which motivate me to acquire more knowledge about application and concept of artificial intelligence after going through your blog i get to know many information which would not be possible without your blog i would be glad if you elaborate .more on big data .

    Reply
  25. Avatar

    sage technical support

    Thanks for sharing nice information with us. i like your post and all you share with us is uptodate and quite informative, i would like to bookmark the page so i can come here again to read you, as you have done a wonderful job.

    Reply
  26. Avatar

    AOL Hacked Account

    I took away a lot very good points from this post and will definitely save it in my bookmarks. Thanks for the effort you took to elaborate on this subject so thoroughly. I look forward to future posts.

    Reply

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