The Future of Artificial Intelligence
“Artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, is a rapidly growing field of technology that is transforming the world we live in. AI refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, decision-making, and language understanding.”
What you just read above was not written by me, nor by any human. What you just read was a response created by an AI after being given a prompt to write an essay about Artificial Intelligence.
AI has evolved so much in recent times. It can write almost indistinguishable from humans, create art, and even mimic voices with pinpoint accuracy.
But how did AI evolve so much so shortly? How did AI become this? Who are the big players in AI? That is what we will find out shortly.
In 1951, the world’s first AI was invented. The Stochastic Neural Analog Reinforcement Calculator, or SNARC, was created by inventors Marvin Minsky and Dean Edmunds. This AI was made to calculate the probability of certain events, simulating a network of neurons. This was impressive at the time of release, but nowadays, absolutely lacks any power compared to what we have today.
Though SNARC was the first AI, it wasn’t the first true artificial “intelligence”. The first true intelligence when it came to AI was in 1970, where the world’s first microprocessors were made, which inspired and accelerated AI advancements.
AI then started a wildfire, with progress being made daily on artificial intelligence’s future. The biggest progression point was made in the 1980’s, where John Hopfield and David Rumelhart created “learning techniques”, which allowed AI to learn and adapt from previous experiences. Because of this, AI was able to be used in ways you see today, such as in computers, games, and even in phone calls.
AI has gotten better and better since then, due to more innovation and larger storage available for all machines.
Now, in the present, we see AI’s such as ChatGPT, and AI art programs storming the world, which are frighteningly accurate at mimicking human tasks.
For those unaware, ChatGPT, or, in its full name, Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, created by the company OpenAI, is an AI that can write prompts for you, have conversations with you, and even answer any obscure questions you may have. While it sounds simple, the AI is very complex in itself, and talks almost exactly like a human being would.
As shown earlier, ChatGPT is almost indistinguishable from human language, which while amazing in its own right, creates problems.
As ChatGPT has no morals, it can be used by anyone for malicious purposes. Some of which are creating malware, instructions on how to make drugs, and phishing others.
That isn’t the only issue with ChatGPT, though, as yet another problem is that information can be manipulated.
Since ChatGPT learns from what others have said, what’s stopping the AI from spouting misinformation? AI cannot think, they cannot feel, they have no way of fact-checking, they simply repeat what they see and hear. If facts are distorted enough, the AI will start speaking lies and nonsense.
But even with all of those dangers, ChatGPT can be used for good.
The AI is able to give incredibly precise answers to any question that browsers, such as Google, cannot. The AI can also help you make schedules, write outlines for papers, and organize other tasks. It’s a tool of extreme convenience.
All in all, ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can be used for both good and evil.
An arguably more controversial AI is DALL-E 2, also made by OpenAI.
DALL-E 2 is an AI tool made to generate artwork by giving it prompts. While this is interesting in its own right, the tool has created some issues in the art community revolving around the fate of their livelihoods.
Artists all around the world are claiming that AI is slowly starting to replace their jobs, as AI can create artwork for free as compared to paying for it, as you traditionally do with real artists.
“Artificial Intelligence will never be able to replace a job.” Said Riley High School Teacher, Mr. Ponder. “AI only copies what other people do–they cannot think or do for themselves. As long as we (humans) are around, your job is safe.”
DALL-E 2 has also been accused of plagiarism in their “art” since the AI copies what they see, and incorporates it into their own work. In the art world, this could be interpreted as direct plagiarism.
Even though the AI is copying others’ work, it still cannot understand the basic features of human biology.
For example, in most AI artwork, people will have six fingers, and their facial proportions will be incorrect. This is because yet again, AI is not smart, and is only copying what they’re seeing, even though they see things incorrectly.
Until these large flaws with DALL-E 2 are fixed, it is safe to say that AI will not be replacing human art anytime soon.
With all of that out of the way, you now know the history of AI, the benefits, the dangers, the concerns, and the outright malicious things that could come out of it.
If you have any comments, questions, or criticisms, feel free to email me.
Sources:, https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2016/12/30/a-very-short-history-of-artificial-intelligence-ai/?sh=6d57d0006fba , https://www.coe.int/en/web/artificial-intelligence/history-of-ai#:~:text=It%20was%20with%20the%20advent,golden%20age%20of%20expert%20systems ,
