You, like me, have probably heard a countless number of AI definitions. And you, like me, were probably left totally confused. So what exactly is AI?
Serveral months ago, I watched, or atleast tried to watch, a documentary on TV about AI. Well, after about the fourth socalled “industry expert” being asked to give their definition, I realized, each of those 4 definitions were as diverse and different from each other as one could expect. Rather than answering to “What is AI?” they were replying with a, ” . . . this is how my product or service uses AI . . .” which is a very narrow and specific, one-of example of how they are using AI. I thus realized and concluded, my time is better spent, turning the TV off and going for a walk. Hence, it resulted in this, my short “article of definition”, based on what I believe is the best definition of AI.
So here is my definition of AI – Artificial Intelligence;
AI, most commonly and verbosely known as Artificial Intelligence, is a generic, umbrella, collective and catch-all term defining a process, of either products or services, which has its operational parameters, continuously programmed, varied and tweaked, based on inputs from other sources, being either static, such as a database or dynamic, like data collected and collated, perhaps from another AI driven source, on-the-fly, in real-time, to alter or tweak its own program flow and resulting output. These processes could be as simple as asking Google or ChatGPT a simple question, to more complex AI controlled processes such as industrial controls used in production lines. As a test, ask ChatGPT a simple question and note its’ output. Then ask the same question but using 1 word differently and you will see how different the answer will be.
And for fun, I just asked ChatGPT “What is AI?”. Very general and brief, ChatGPT says, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is technology that allows computers and software to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.” Well, very general and I think that definition applies to computers of several decades ago. I feel my definition above is far more accurate, though I may be biased.
Whenever AI is talked about, we hear a very narrow and specific definition, based on that specific experts’ process, product or scope of field. And we must remember, as this article began above, AI is a very broad collective catch-all term such as automobile, which captures the numerous collective of makes and models of cars from around the globe. To compare, think about automobile versus chevrolet; automobile is the collective term versus chevrolet, being a specific automobile. Well, AI is like automobile (generic), versus Chevrolet (specific).
Hope this helps you. And to be transparent with full disclosure, NO AI of any form, was used in the writing, editing and publishing of this article. Just an organic lifeform (me) who bears all responsibility of any errors, ommisisions
