AI has worked its way into almost all corners of everyday life. Chances are that you have already encountered AI somewhere today. From your banking apps to online personality quizzes, and even in healthcare, there is no escaping its reach. Even here, or maybe especially here, in our little digital corner of web development paradise, AI has been growing and evolving faster than ever. That speed of adaptation by the general population has spurred billions and billions in spending from big companies to move development forward, and that’s sped things up even faster.
What is AI?Â
What do you think about when you hear the term AI? You undoubtedly have a picture in your head of what it might look like in practice. After all, it has been a massive part of popular culture, media, and literature forever. At its basic definition found in the Oxford Dictionary, AI is”the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”
Note: In an essay penned by Stuart Roberts of the University of Cambridge, he notes the beginnings of AI Ideation as far back as Homer in the Iliad, with “Hephaestus, the god of fire, forging women made of gold to serve as his handmaidens” and in “300 BCE, Thodius imaged Talos, a giant bronze automaton who protected Europa,” showing story threads where people have been “imagining intelligent machines long before (they) had the technology capable of creating them.” Source Cambridge Univeristy.
Chances are, even if you have never watched the iconic 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by the visionary Stanley Kubrick, I’d bet you are still familiar with Hal 3000 and how the machine displays strange behavior before coming into its own “intelligence” and turning on the man-led expedition when it feels its mission and purpose are threatened. Maybe your movie isn’t 2001; maybe it is iRobot or even Wall-E. And while these are all entertaining stories and perhaps just a little scary, they don’t do a good job of highlighting real-life applications as we see them being utilized today. Most AI Narratives focus on the blending of lines between mankind and what it has created; they all follow the same formula at their most basic level;
- People create a machine capable of learning to help serve some function or purpose.
- The machine learns “too” well and wishes to break free/change how things are being done.
- The machine goes against its creators
- All hell breaks loose.
In practice and reality, AI usually focuses on a much more narrow scope.
The Four Types of AI
There are four different types of AI based on function; Reactive Machine AI, Limited Memory AI, Theory of Mind AI, and Self-Aware AI.
Reactive Machine AI
Much like a goldfish, these AI have no memories and are designed to perform a specific task. They can’t build off previous results and can only work with currently available data. With the magic of statistical math and super-human output speeds, we can combine in a facsimile of intelligence. Examples: Streaming recommendation engines, IBM Deep Blue Chess Competitor
Limited Memory AI
This is the one that has been popping up everywhere! Limited Memory AI is similar to its sibling, Treactive Machine AI, but as you might have guessed, it can remember past events and outcomes for a short time. It then uses the past data to improve performance towards a desired effect.
Examples: Chatbots, Art Generators, Chat GPT
Theory of Mind AI
This type of AI is currently wholly theoretical, but if functioning, it could fully understand thoughts and emotions to simulate human relationships. Think the 2022 film M3gan but with hopefully less murder. There are cases of this in development, though Theory of Mind AI is still unrealized to date.
Self-Aware AI
As the name suggests, Self-Aware AI would have its internal thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, a la Westworld. Researchers hope that this sort of AI will no longer be theoretical and will be able to simulate and respond appropriately to humans on an emotional level.
Currently, the only known existing AI Programs are categorized as Artificial Narrow AI or Weak AI. These AIs perform a single defined task. While AI may accomplish this task faster than its human counterparts, it cannot do anything outside the set task.
Where are we now?
AI development has had a massive boom in the last decade and is now a multi-billion dollar business. Companies, researchers, and developers are all hoping to be at the forefront of what comes next for AI, and with so many grants and the amount of money being invested into AI, who can blame them? With the level of virality that AI has taken, people are scrambling to get ahead of the curve and be included in this new technology.
There has been massive growth in the useability and popularity of AI in web development. Generative AI programs like ChatGPT and Midjourney have made headlines in the past year or so as giant leaps in generative AI with useable, though ethically questionable*, results, making “art” and text content instantaneously available and cutting while cutting the creator out.
The other concern is how AI handles bias, hate, and other human errors that can easily be absorbed in learning depending on how it is programmed to learn. As humans, we are deeply flawed, so it stands that any intelligence created by humans will also be flawed; no way around it. Depending on the material used to teach and who is in charge of that material, it can considerably impact how AI may function. Studies and research are imperative to ensure that AI does not further bias. For further information on how researchers are tackling bias in AI, read a Harvard study here.
Where is AI headed?
When ChatGPT went viral last year, our team took time as a team to sit down and have a “coffee chat” about where AI is and where we think it is going. There was the initial tension in the room of, “This thing could steal my job,” which is a familiar refrain whenever there is a leap in technology. And where that is a genuine concern, it is far from being in a position to replace people; instead, AI is in a position to help the current market evolve.
AI tools have a place in bringing skill levels up, but chances are, you won’t find it involved in the top percentage of workers in their fields or executives’ boardrooms. The tech just isn’t there. AI isn’t a replacement for problem-solving and the human touch in building long-term goals and business solutions.
Our experience has been that AI does not, in fact, replace the creator but can be a tool to help elevate those with beginner and intermediate skills.
Kevin Abrams – Digital Consultant & Founder at Digital Renegades
Take Microsoft Copilot, which can quickly provide supplemental help in debugging your code. Mid-level developers speed up their process by using a tool like Copilot to look at a code, measure against code generated by an AI tool, and highlight problem areas to be fixed much faster than the human brain can do. Someone could write some code, run it through the AI tool that highlights errors, and allow the creator to see any hiccups or mistakes that can be learned from and corrected when writing code in the future. It can help create ideas or spur some brainstorming by highlighting ideas developers may have not considered.
The endless opportunity for individualized interactions might be the most exciting thing about AI. The possibilities are endless. Many websites use gimmicky quizzes to determine how to meet a need. Still, with the proper backend programming and generative AI support, feedback tools that are unique and nearly unrepeated user experience every time to best help people individually could be created. The big concern here is privacy and how much information is shared, how integrated it is into various systems, and how it shares the information gathered.
Note: It is a given that you should be cautious in sharing any proprietary coding or sensitive information such as API keys and other passwords. Always be careful when sharing private information. With any new growth in tech, there is a continually growing opportunity for security risk.
Digital Renegades and AI
Internally, we utilize AI organizational tools to streamline our processes and communications. But what sets Digital Renegades apart from our peers is that we use AI to go deeper into the technical development route. We are less likely to go out and buy an AI tool for a client’s digital space and instead delve into individual client needs.
So many chatbots are out there, based on the same APIs, and so many, like snake oil, are just a marketing play-off of the same toolset for resale. When we craft a tool or any part of a client’s digital space, we work with them directly for custom, one-of-a-kind solutions.
Kevin Abrams – Digital Consultant & Founder at Digital Renegades
There is one thing that I think we can all agree on: we are living in exciting times in the tech world, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us.
Note: Even schools are taking steps to ensure students complete their assignments rather than running prompts through Chat GPT.
* There is a lot of controversy around Generative AI in the creative and web development communities, combined with a growing fear that jobs might be eliminated and creatives cut from their different fields. The real ethical dilemma is how these AIs learn; many copywriters, artists, coders, etc. Without consent or knowledge.
Check out our additional reading and resources to learn more:
Ethical Concerns Mount as AI takes Bigger Decision Making Roles (Harvard)
Artificial Intelligences Use and Rapid Growth Highlight Possibilities and Perils
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