Is this something that is dragging you down and you’re now afraid?
It’s no secret that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a part of our everyday lives, from organizations and companies to our homes, cars, and even airplanes! It’s quite exciting, isn’t it?
What might puzzle you is that we’ve been enjoying automated technology for a long time without much concern. Just think about it—auto-pilots in ships and planes, or those smart vacuum cleaners that glide around our homes without tumbling down stairs. So, what’s all the fuss about now?
Why do you and I seem a bit more apprehensive about automated technology these days?
Well, I think it mainly stems from our natural human curiosity and maybe a sprinkle of media hype, along with some people seeking attention.
So, what is AI, really?
According to Wikipedia, which is a fantastic resource, AI is the ability of computers to carry out tasks usually linked with human intelligence. This includes learning, reasoning, solving problems, perceiving things, and making decisions. It’s a dedicated research area in computer science that focuses on creating software that helps machines understand their surroundings and use learning and intelligence to act towards achieving specific goals.[1] So, we call these fantastic machines AIs!
Isn’t that pretty cool? It can do neat things, much like an automatic vacuum cleaner that gracefully avoids the stairs or an autopilot on a plane!
Are we back to square one? Does this clarify things at all? Maybe not. Confused? I get it!
The confusion may be tied to Generative AI, a fun subset of AI that uses generative ‘models’ to create different results than we’re used to, like texts, images, and videos. This has been generating buzz since the 2020s and marks the exciting AI boom.
You’ll probably come across these tools in friendly chatbots like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Copilot, Gemini, and delightful text-to-image AI image generation systems we use for sending texts on our phones—pretty harmless, right?
However, we should all be mindful of the darker side, like cybercrime and misinformation. This is where I see a real concern, so it’s important to stay aware of how these developments unfold, without fearing AI as a whole.
So, what exactly is AI? I hope this sheds some light on the topic, and there’s definitely more to explore!
Don’t hesitate to visit our website for more fantastic insights at www.databench.com.au
References:
(1) – Russell & Norvig (2021),
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence#CITEREFRussellNorvig2021
