October 2016 - Page 2 of 2

Artificial Intelligence…past and future

in AI October 5, 2016September 19, 2018

By Paul Field – CEO @ Improved Apps

We may think artificial intelligence is a new concept for the computer age, but actually, the notion of AI is one that has fascinated mankind for centuries. It has managed to achieve the dubious status of being the stuff of both science-fiction but also horror stories.

As far back as classical Greece there were stories of something man-made (that is ‘artificial’) being created with intelligence. Crete was supposedly protected from pirates and invaders by a giant bronze automaton called Talos. At the same time. The Greeks were making computers such as the Antikythera mechanism that were able to accurately predict the position of heavenly bodies and eclipses. In pharaonic Egypt, mechanical statues made for temples were thought to be possessed of wisdom and emotion.

Artificial Intelligence – 10 things you never knew!

in AI October 5, 2016September 19, 2018

By Paul Field – CEO @ Improved Apps

It is very easy to get swept along with the growing tide of news about artificial intelligence (AI) and start to think that the prospect of an AI that could out-think a human and reason independently and originally is a close prospect. However, we are still a long way from an AI that could in any sense be said to be sentient.

Nevertheless, there are clearly AIs already out there in the world around us performing far better that humans can: More than 75% of share trading is automatically handled by AIs, flights are kept safe from each other thanks to AIs, and even medical diagnosis has been helped by AIs. AIs can beat us at chess or Jeopardy and provide customer guidance on web sites.