Appendix FArtificial Intelligence
Managing Director, ITSI, South Africa
F.1 Machine Learning
Machine Learning (ML)will prove to be one of the foundational technologies that will not only redefine the processes used in organisations but will be responsible for the overhaul of entire industry‐based business models. As entire books are written on the subject, this appendix will focus onsome basic elementary concepts in ML, followed by a few future business scenarios in which ML will play a foundational impact.
One advantage that ML has above human pattern recognition is that it looks at the patterns in the data without the filter of human subjectivity. The massive amount of processing power ML has at its disposal also allows it to use a process of evolution to obtain the fittest algorithm for the task at hand. Where humans satisfy, ML optimises. It is this ability to parse a tremendous amount of data that enables it to unlock untold opportunities. A sample of these new opportunities will be presented at the end of this appendix.
F.2 The History of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Throughout human history, people have used technology to model themselves. There is evidence of this from ancient China, Egypt, and Greece that bears witness to the universality of this activity. Each new technology has, in its turn, been exploited to build intelligent agents or models of mind. Clockwork, hydraulics, telephone switching systems, holograms, analogue computers, ...