What is AI: Beyond ChatGPT
A broad question that goes beyond ChatGPT to help us define AI so that we can better understand how our world is changing
The world is currently in an AI craze over new products like ChatGPT releasing that excites us about the future of AI. These chatbots are incredibly human in their response to our questions. I've replaced asking Siri with GPT and Pi when I'm curious about a topic or an idea. That intelligence is definitely part of the "I" in AI, but it can be hard to pinpoint what AI really is.
Simply, artificial intelligence is when a machine takes input data or information and uses it to respond with an action. Think about your home thermostat. Even the simplest models will warm the room when it's too cold and cool it down when it's too warm. The thermostat AI uses sensor data to gauge the temperature and then responds by activating the furnace or air conditioning.
AI isn't the specific pieces of the thermostat; it's the whole machine's function. AI isn't just the measurement of the temperature; that's just sensor data. AI also isn't a generated report of the temperature of the house over a given period of time. The system that tells the report to trigger might be, but the generation of the report isn't AI. It's just raw data. Taking sensor data and triggering heating and cooling is AI.
Using video games as an example, Enemies often have really simplistic AI. They might just follow the player around using basic algorithms. The most basic is a decision tree that might be used for a checkers AI. A decision tree is just a set of actions that can be taken based on what an analysis of the board finds. If a piece can be taken, take it; otherwise, make the next available move.
Methods or sensors that AI use aren't AI themselves. If you think about image recognition, AI takes image data to get details about what is in the photo and then uses training on past images to determine which details are in the scene, then it reports which objects it found. The trained model isn't an AI, the report isn't an AI, but the system working together creates an AI.
I find these details really helpful when talking about AI because it becomes evident that AIs have been around us for a long time. Many of our everyday tasks involve AI to make our lives easier. But if AI isn't new, why is everyone talking about it?
The newest set of AI's have been built using the Transformer method of building AI models. This new practice creates a powerful and broadly intelligent system that can handle many scenarios without complex programming. This means people can more easily create and leverage AI to solve problems.
These transformer-based AI can do many of the things I listed above. You could give them parameters to control the temperature in your apartment. You could have them suggest moves when playing checkers. They can also discuss politics, debate company strategy, or give you a recipe for banana bread. The breadth of these AI capabilities enables much broader adoption of AI into services and applications.
But because of the breadth of potential for these new AI, they aren't necessarily better at the simple stuff we have existing tools for. That's why most applications built upon transformers add chatbots or conversation AI. The breadth of a conversation best matches the capabilities of this new technology. It's only the beginning, and I think we'll see chatbots in more places than probably makes sense as a result.
This phase is similar to when everyone thought we needed an app for everything. iPhones enabled so many new and incredible things to be done. But, over time, websites could do many things apps could do. Now, a lot of the craze around building apps has cooled down. But AI is just heating up.
AI isn't new, and in many places, like your home thermostat, the way they’re used can be pretty boring. Believing that AI will change everything is probably true, not because of AI, but because of what we do with AI. AI isn't just one aspect of ChatGPT; it's the ability for computers to do "smart things.”
If you want to find some examples of interesting applications for AI, you can visit our UI/UX patterns page on Stable Discussion. We've just started adding examples and will continue to add new examples over time.