English Summary #4

The development of artificial intelligence has improved rapidly in the last few decades, and especially in the last few years. This swift growth has already had significant impacts on our understanding of business, technology, and society as a whole. As the computing power of artificial intelligence (AI) increases in power and efficiency, society will only continue to change further. This transformation has not only been felt through the creation of AI bots such as ChatGPT, but also through the development of driverless cars, automated diagnosis of illnesses, and numerous other advancements. To many, this incredible societal change is something to be worried about, though to others, it is a sign of good things to come. Gaining an understanding of how best to use AI, as well as how to protect ourselves against its dangers, was the subject of the speech that Prof. Dr. Thomas Villmann gave May 9th.

First, it is important to fully understand what AI is. Alan Turing, a famous British mathematician, logician, cryptologist, and computer scientist from the early 20th century, once said that “what we want is a machine that can learn from experience.” Similarly, in his speech, Prof. Dr. Villmann described the process of developing AI as creating “algorithmic methods so that machines can do what we (as thinking beings) are able to do.” While the roots of AI first developed with the early computers of the 1980s, contemporary computer processing has advanced so far that AI plays a major role in our society. However, not all artificial intelligence is created equally; in the modern day, “learning computers” are generally separated into two categories, strong AI and weak AI.

Strong AI can be defined as being knowledge based. This form of AI is capable of thinking and learning in a similar way to how humans are able to think and learn. On the other hand, weak AI (also called machine learning) is designed specifically to fulfill basic human tasks. It is capable of learning, but generally operates with much greater limitations than even the simplest human intelligence. Both forms of AI, whether they are strong or weak, improve through learning models. This process can often lead to unexpected results; humans are able to see the inputs and outputs of AI but are not always able to fully understand the process by which the AI interprets the data. This fact adds to the general feeling of unease many have about artificial intelligence.

Despite these worries, AI remains an extremely potent tool with a wide variety of uses. It can be used to create more efficient designs for complicated construction projects, such as the creation of wind farms or new infrastructure routes. In the field of medicine, AI can be utilized to diagnose diseases, as well as invent new medications and medical equipment. Furthermore, it can be employed to optimize general equipment maintenance, agriculture, and can even be used to develop more sophisticated environmental models. Such models could be able to grant humanity a greater understanding of how best to address the issue of pollution.

As the technology surrounding artificial intelligence progresses, the possibilities of the technology will only continue to grow. There are still many concerns about the potential for misuse of AI: Automation replacing jobs, ever-increasingly realistic deepfakes, and of course the unlikely but extremely worrying idea of a hyper-intelligent AI realizing it no longer needs humanity. However, despite these risks, we have reason to believe that, as long as proper precautions are enacted, AI could be an enormous benefit to mankind, and could possibly be the means by which humanity pushes itself into the future.