What Is A.I.?
Get a clear definition of Artificial Intelligence and see where it shows up in everyday life.
1. Defining the term
"Artificial" means created by humans, and "intelligence" is the ability to learn, reason, and solve problems. Artificial Intelligence is technology that allows computers to perform tasks that usually require human thinking.
2. What A.I. can do
A.I. systems can recognize speech, identify objects in images, translate languages, recommend content, and answer questions. Each system is usually built for a specific job — an A.I. that plays chess can't drive a car.
3. A.I. in your daily life
Voice assistants, video and music recommendations, spam filters, autocorrect, and navigation apps all rely on A.I. You probably use it dozens of times a day without noticing.
4. A.I. vs. regular programs
A regular computer program follows fixed rules that a programmer writes. An A.I. system can improve its performance by learning from data, which lets it handle situations the programmer never specifically planned for.
Field Vocabulary
Technology that lets computers perform tasks that normally require human thinking, such as learning, reasoning, and understanding language.
A set of written instructions that tells a computer exactly what to do.
A machine that can sense its surroundings and perform physical tasks. Some robots use A.I.