Living In The Age Of AI


    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a dream or figure of the imagination. It is real, and it is here. We may not realize it, but artificial intelligence is all around us. The video we watched in class focused on the game Go and its AI counterpart AlphaGo. AlphaGo is a computer software that plays the popular game Go. The game was very popular in China, Japan, and South Korea. Although many people believe AlphaGo is just another board game gone digital, AlphaGo really is not even a game at all. Go is not just a game; it is how you learn strategy. The process has almost a spiritual component to it. According to the video we watched in class, South Koreans say that Lee Sedol is the world’s greatest Go player. In the video attached below, you can watch Sedol attempt to beat Google’s AlphaGo software. AlphaGo's AI system was created to be unbeatable. The artificial intelligence within its program analyzes its opponent and figuring out their opponent's move before their opponent even knows what move they will make. As I mentioned before, Google created the AlphaGo AI software. South Korean’s believed that their “master” Go player Lee Sedol would be able to beat the AI.
    I was shocked by how google designed the system—starting with the rules of Go and other historical games. Google designed the AlphaGo system to teach itself.  Because AlphaGo is an artificial intelligence system, it's not following a set of instructions. The system creates its own instructions. The system is basically coming up with moves that humans have never thought of before. It uses artificial intelligence to study games that humans have previously played. Using that data, it knows the rules comes up with creative moves.

    Artificial intelligence has shown us that it could arrange a vast amount of data beyond anything any human could handle and use it to teach itself how to predict an outcome. It has basically turned into the "modern space race." China has decided to chase the AI future. Go was the thing that jump-started China's implementation of AI. The Chinese Government realized that AI was a critical thing that they needed for their future. They got scared and did not want some foreign company showing them up at their own game. They believed AI was something that was critically important for their future. People started calling this the “Sputnik Moment” for the Chinese Government. This caused China to "wake up." One thing from the video that surprised me was even though countries like China are so technologically advanced, the United States is still ahead. However, it has been predicted that by 2025, China will beat the United States. 

    Today, China leads the world in e-commerce. Drones deliver to rural villages. And a society that bypassed credit cards now shops in stores without cashiers, where the currency is facial recognition. No country has ever moved that fast. According to the video, in as short as 2.5 years, China's AI implementation went from a small amount to probably about 17 or 18 unicorns in AI today. In business, a unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion. Over the past 15 years, China has developed its own form of entrepreneurship. It is kind of scary to me how fast they are moving. This is because they are just pushing technology out; it does not seem like they are testing it and working out the kinks. 



Sources:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/in-the-age-of-ai/










 





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