Algorithms have been around for awhile, certainly long before artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies began depending on them. This interesting topic came to us from NPR in their article, “Algorithmic Intelligence Has Gotten So Smart, It’s Easy To Forget It’s Artificial.”
To make a computer do anything, you have to write a computer program. To write a computer program, you have to tell the computer, step by step, exactly what you want it to do. The computer then executes the program, following each step mechanically, to accomplish the end goal. Computers use algorithms for most everything they do, we just don’t have to think about it. However, when algorithms started taking over tasks that used to require human input and judgment, we started paying a little more attention.
In fact, more and more, people are anthropomorphizing these algorithms as though they are a Disney character. The familiarity extends to tech companies. They have made AI such a household term that the magic is assumed.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
