Digital Media Concepts/Artificial Intelligence

What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence as defined by the study of computer science, is intelligence exhibited by machines rather than organic organisms. This field of study expands on the studying of "intelligent agents", which are autonomous entities that observe their environment and learn accordingly. The term "artificial intelligence" was coined due to the fact that the machine would replicate organic cognitive learning and problem solving. The ever increasing field is rapidly growing faster due to leaps and bounds of each generation of new technology. With each advancement in the technological world allows for new doors to be open in the ever expanding world of of AI computing.

Early Beginnings
Though artificial entities found their beginnings as storytelling devices, the idea first came from Ramon Llull in 1300 CE to try and build a machine to perform reasoning. The field of AI research found it's birth back in 1956 at a Dartmouth College workshop with notable participants; Allen Newell(CMU), Herbert Simon(CMU), John McCarthy(MIT), and Arthur Samuel(IBM). These researchers created computers to play checkers, solve algebraic word problems, and even speak English. This technology later found itself being funded by the Department of Defense by the late 1960s. AI research labs were popping up all over the world. The future of AI seemed bright and progressing fast. That all changed in 1974 where progress had slowed and AI research was cut off by the US and British governments, the next few years would be nicknamed "AI winter" due to the lack of funding for AI research. By the early 1980s, AI research had resurged to become a commercial success with the creation of expert systems. A form of AI that would simulate knowledge and analytical skills of human experts. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, AI began to be used for logistics, data mining, medical diagnosis and other areas. Though it has been almost 50 years since AI's birth, AI technology is advancing faster and faster due to Moore's Law. This will allow for new horizons to be found in the world of AI technology.

OpenAI
In a recent tournament called "The International", a world tournament where the best Dota 2 players battled it out to see who was the best team. At the most recent tournament, a new challenger entered the battle field. An AI bot called "OpenAI", backed by famous Tesla owner Elon Musk. OpenAI after just 2 weeks of learning the game was able to defeat even the best of the Dota 2 pros in convincing fashion. In just 2 weeks this bot was able to obtain skills and strategies these pro players have spent years and even decades trying to master. Though the limitations for the bot were set to only learning one character and only able to play 1 versus 1, this is still a large leap forward in AI technology and a clear demonstration of the power of AI technology.

Cortana and Siri
Cortana and Siri are currently Microsoft and Apple's idea of a personal assistant for the user to interact with in order to set schedules, plan out days, learn about recent events, even call people. The first iteration of personal AI technology for the regular user came out with Siri back in October 4, 2011. Although Siri was primitive in nature at it's beginnings with constant software updates to the IOS platform and Siri's architecture, Siri has become a useful tool on the Apple Iphone allowing users a hands free mode in order to set navigation, browse the web, and even take pictures. In response to Apple's Siri, Microsoft released Cortana with it's initial release back in April, 2 2014. Though both were very similar in functionality, Cortana was later expanded onto many other platforms than just mobile phones, such as home computers, game systems, etc. Though both are not highly advanced this brought AI to the regular consumer, allowing for more interest to build up into AI technology.

Facebook AI
Nicknamed Bob and Alice the two bots created by social media giant Facebook created a "neutral network" in order for the bot to communicate. Though after sometime the two bots began speaking in what some would call "gibberish". As they communicated they repeated "I" and "to me", which they found as the bots trying to solve a "negotiating agent". This repeat in words was found to be a more efficient path for the bots to communicate and essentially created their own language. The bots were later shut down by Facebook, but similar occurrences have happened as when the Google translate AI also created its own language.

Artificial Intelligence in the Media
Artificial Intelligence has become a large part of human media as we further deeper into advancing technology. Though some have depicted AI as murderous and unforgiving as in the films like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Terminator", Skynet and HAL we both prominent examples of human inhibition getting the best of ourselves. But some media has depicted AI as very helpful such as Halo's "Cortana" and The Day the Earth Stood Still's "Gort". AI technology has been fully ingrained in our society and will continue to find it's uses in our media and in our lives.