LONDON - Artificial intelligence (AI) is the development of computer systems programmed to think like humans and perform tasks which typically require human intelligence, such as object detection, decision making and problem-solving.

AI Has Been Around for Longer Than You Think

AI is a broad branch of computer science that makes machines seem as if they have human intelligence. The goal of AI is to create systems that function intelligently and independently. AI seems like revolutionary technology, but it’s been around for longer than you think. The term ’artificial intelligence” was first coined by John McCarthy, an assistant mathematics professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1956. He convened computer scientists and mathematicians to see if machines could learn like a young child, using trial and error to develop formal reasoning. The project proposal stated they would figure out how to make machines use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve every kind of problem previously reserved to humans, and improve themselves. Since then, AI has mainly remained in university classrooms and some laboratories, but that is changing.

AI use is skyrocketing. One reason for this is that a huge amount of data is being created every minute. Ninety-percent of the world’s data have been generated in the past two years, and now, thanks to advances in processing speeds, computers can make sense of all this information more rapidly. These advances have spawned a huge surge of tech giants and venture capitalists infusing the AI market with cash and applications.

AI has long been deemed an abstract idea that belongs to the future - even as a concept that could lead to something terrible, like a war with killer robots as depicted in sci-fi movies. That concept is very far from reality. AI has more or less sneaked into o