Loud Thinking June 18, 2014 at 03:56PM

An excellent letter published but the daily “Pakistan Observer” for intelligent persons..!

Artificial intelligence

Shereen Fatima Syed

Wednesday, June 18, 2014 – The advancement in technology, especially the computer technology and for that matter the information technology, has led the mankind to an era of consciousness, convenience and comfort. The computers have added speed to the job earlier performed by the human hands with the support of the god given intelligence and intellect. All our information being within the scope of new computer technology, has made us subservient to the technology; however this has also helped the mankind in almost every walk of life and has given way to collection, managing and utilizing data for constructive ends. Our lives and work, therefore generate vast amounts of data. From travel information to customer satisfaction and to collect information on financial management, even to the tune as to how much money the new movies will generate. The data offers great insights and quite often this is because of the Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is usually defined as the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans. The potential of artificial intelligence is enormous and in fact a 2013 study by Oxford University estimated that artificial intelligence could take over nearly half of all jobs in United States in the near future.

Artificial Intelligence’s most common application is about finding patterns in enormous quantities of data. This allows companies to automate and improve complex descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytical tasks. For example the goal of the fifth generation computer is to develop the device which could respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and also that of self-organization. Quantum computation, Molecular and Nano technology will be used in this technology. Other example is that of customized food / smart packaging, wherein everyone wonders as to how long they should heat something up in the microwave, and sometimes a wrong guess can lead to an explosion. By 2015 food may come with microchips in the packaging that communicate with kitchen appliances.

Nutrition scientists also project that developments in food technology and engineering may enable marketers to offer convenient healthy snacks that are customized at the point of sale to meet each individual consumer’s nutritional requirements and personal preferences. However, the potential of Artificial Intelligence for organizations is enormous and if the projections turn out to be true and in the coming years the AI market will grow to a multiple billion dollar market, and doing business can take up a whole new meaning. Resulting in fewer employees required while significantly improving your bottom line results. I think Artificial intelligence is second intelligence ever to exist.

—Islamabad

Tags: My Views