Artificial intelligence (AI) is supposed to disrupt every day life and the world of work in particular. However, it is more talked about today than implemented on ground. This interesting topic came to us from The Wall Street Journal in their article, “Why Artificial Intelligence Isn’t Intelligent.”

Inside and outside the field, people routinely describe AI using terms typically applied to humans. That’s probably one reason so many are confused about what the technology can actually do.

IBM defines machine learning as “a form of artificial intelligence that uses algorithms to enable a system to learn from data rather than through explicit programming.” In other words, a human presents a set of data to the AI along with a method for interpreting the data. The AI learns from this method in order to form inferences about the data by itself.

When AI researchers say that their algorithms are good at “narrow” tasks, what they mean is that, with enough data, it’s possible to “train” their algorithms. But these algorithms tend not to be very adaptable.

In other words, the rumors of AI may have exceeded its abilities.

Melody K. Smith

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