Hi Sam, could I ask you a couple of questions on AI … and robots?

👋  Sure thing!                                                                                

Thanks! I’ve read this article and I’m not sure I quite get the point. What is “AGI” exactly?

Ah, yes, that’s a tricky one …  😎😎                                                        

So basically “AI” just means “Artificial Intelligence”, and that’s hard enough to define, but “AGI” means “Artificial General Intelligence”

Ok, and the difference is … ? 😅

Compare it to a toolbox: you have nails, you need a hammer. You need to find patterns in data, you need an AI  🤖

As Marvin Minsky once said, we could call a program “intelligent” if it does things in a way that we would call “intelligent” if a human did them

So a machine is smart if it does things like a human? 

Defining “intelligence” in general is really hard! AI systems are really good at things humans are really bad at, and really bad at things that are really easy for humans -> https://xkcd.com/1425/ (Moravec’s Paradox)

So can we make an AI as smart as a human or no? 😆😆

Yes and no. We can make an AI do some tasks as well or faster than a human, but not in the same way a human does them, just like a car isn’t an artificial horse

Ah, that clears it up. So a hammer is better than my fist at hammering in nails, but it is not a better hand overall. Right?

 Yes, in a sense. What “AGI” wants to be, is an AI that is as intelligent as a human overall, not just for a specific task. But still not necessarily do things in the same way a human does

So we have specialized AI systems that are good at one thing, but not a general AI that is good at everything?

Exactly. BUT!  😁😁😁                                                                              

… there’s always a but … 😆

Well, there is one approach that tries to imitate how humans learn to do things: artificial neural networks that imitate the structure of the brain and can learn, instead being programmed.

They’re building a whole artificial brain?  🧠🤖

Not really no, these neural nets are generally simulated on ordinary computers 😊😊😊😊                                    

In this way, AI’s have achieved human-level skills in games  https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/10/alphago-zero-the-ai-that-taught-itself-go/543450/

and have learned to do more complex perception and motion  https://www.bostondynamics.com/atlas

 

Doesn’t this mean it is just “intelligent” full stop? What makes it “artificial”? “Artificial” makes it sound like its fake …

In a sense you are right, “artificial” is commonly used to indicate that something is not real, like artificial flavoring or coloring in food. A computer solves problems in a different way than a human, but if it gets the job done, there’s nothing “fake” about it 

OK, I’m going to read some stuff and get back to you.

Sure, have a nice weekend!    🖖🖖