The AI Book

CHAPTER 62Sure, AI Can Answer Our Questions – But Who Will Answer Our Questions About AI?

By Elif Kocaoglu Ulbrich¹

¹FinTech Consultant and Author

Everyone older than thirty can remember the first moment they felt intimidated by intelligent machines: it was the early 90s, and they were watching The Terminator. This generation was the first to be exposed to a fear of robots, which could sense, analyse, plan and execute.

Today’s algorithms and intelligent machines are not quite there yet but can still achieve a lot. Artificial Intelligence and deep learning are already pushing the limits of the human learning capacities. The development of artificial intelligence (AI) started with the motivation to teach machines to imitate human abilities¹ and now is marching into the banking, health, education, defence and mobility spaces; automating traditional practices and taking humans out of the equation. Startups have been experimenting with AI, using it for automation, face and voice recognition, cognitive analysis, profiling and more. Algorithms are supposed to provide a real cure for mundane, repetitive tasks and improve service speed and costs. Exciting times ahead.

Despite the noteworthy technical progress, unanswered questions about the extent of the predictability of AI create a contradiction and divide experts about the technology’s potential. Algorithms are programmed to behave and conclude in a certain way, and AI uses algorithms to simulate and mirror human intelligence. Just ...