The first book I read for my topic was Artificial Intelligence by Peggy Thomas. This book covered a lot of the basics and history of artificial intelligences and was a good starter book in learning more about my topic. The book discussed the idea of modern AI's and how books and movies (such as Star Wars) shaped our current perceptive on what would be an AI.
An AI is essentially a computer that can learn, think, and evolve to be smarter than it started out as. An AI adapts to problems and learns from that problem to use in future situations, much like a human would. In fact, a perfect AI would be completely indistinguishable from a human being in the sense that if you had a conversation with an AI, it would seem as if you were talking to a human and not a machine.
Artificial Intelligence starts off with describing early computing devices such as the Colossus, which was a British computer made during WW2 to decode encrypted German messages, and about Charles Babbage creating a purely mechanical computing device that could calculate up to 31 digits, using only gears and hand cranks. Then it goes on to explain binary, the most basic of computer language and how computers used this language to perform simple and extremely complex tasks.
A man named Alan Turning devised a test in which someone would type the same question into two computers, one linked up to an AI, the other linked up to a human. After 5 minutes of question asking, if the person couldn't tell the two apart, or guessed wrongly as to which was human, then the AI would be considered intelligent. To date no such AI has passed the "Turning" test as it's called. Turning also suggested that a good place to create intelligence in a machine to chess. So in response to his suggestion, many AI groups started making chess playing computers and in 1980, these computers started being able to defeat experienced players. It wasn't until 1997 that chess computers finally became unbeatable with enough processing power.
Now more recently, AI's and robotics have started to come together to create a more human like AI. Think C-3P0. Most of the advances though have been made with robotic AI's being programmed more animal or even insect like, just maneuvering landscaped and solving simple tasks. But these are important stepping stones to one day having your own personal robot butler one day.
Or a Skynet catastrophe.
Your topic is interesting to me because I don't really know anything about AI. All I knew is that it can be extremely powerful and could take over the world if it really wanted. This post shows that you learned a lot about your topic and it was presented in a way that was easy for me (as someone who knows nothing about technology) to understand. Can't wait to see your paper!
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