Learning about how AI works can leave us with a lot of questions and conundrums. In this article, we’ll explore some of these questions and consider the past, present and future of AI.
Can AI help us understand nature?
If you enjoy AI, you might have heard of neural networks. Neural networks are a part of AI that mimics the design of the human brain. But this isn’t the only time nature has helped us build AI. For example, ant colonies inspired collective intelligence. And, predictive modelling came from our understanding of immune systems. Because we don’t fully understand these natural systems, could AI in turn help us learn more about nature?
Can AI help us understand what it means to be human?
The growth of AI has meant that AI has taken over a lot of our tasks. This change has given us time to reflect on what only we, as humans, can do. While AI and humans can make calculations, could AI be as creative as us? It also gives us time to reflect on what we want to do. AI taking over our time-consuming tasks means we can spend more time on what makes us happy.
Could AI be part of human evolution?
Despite what you might think, technology has been with us for a long time. Early technology, such as tools, have been with us for around 2 million years. Since this time, intelligent machines have evolved across time, along with humans. Does this mean humans will evolve to create better AI that we can rely on more and more?
Is AI magic?
This one might seem strange, but consider this quote from Arthur C. Clarke.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
We would agree, that many aspects of AI would have seemed magical to people a long time ago. Who would have believed that something non-human could write poetry? Not only this, but anthropologists believe that a lot of aspects of magic go into AI. These include manipulating symbols to bring change, getting outcomes with minimal effort, and changing lives from a distance.
Is there any more questions you can think of? Let us know!
