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- Herausgeber: WS
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Written by a human, for humans.
Discover the incredible impact of AI with this must-read guide from best-selling author Nigel Poulton. From revolutionising our daily lives to shaping global politics, global economies, national security, and even sports, AI is changing the world in ways we never thought possible. But beware - with great power comes great responsibility, and this book doesn't shy away from the ethical dilemmas, risks, and potential threats of AI.
Learn the truth about AIs and how we create them
Uncover the potential for positive change in areas such as education, healthcare, transportation, and even sports
Gain insights into the latest developments in AI, including ChatGPT, deepfakes, bias, consciousness, and ethics
Understand the challenges surrounding AI consciousness and self-awareness
Consider the dangers of AIs falling into the wrong hands or AIs going rogue
Explore real-world examples and draw your own conclusions about the impact of AI on our economy, local and global politics, national security, and the climate
If you're intrigued about AI and want to understand its incredible potential, this book is a game-changer. It reads like a novel but is packed with facts and insights, delivering a thought-provoking exploration of AI that will challenge the way you think about technology and its impact on our daily lives and the future of humanity.
Once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down!
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Seitenzahl: 108
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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AI Explained
Facts, Fiction, and Future
Nigel Poulton @nigelpoulton
© 2024 Nigel Poulton Ltd.
About the book
They don't know it, but I've written this book for my mother-in-law Val and my Uncle Tony. Well... for them and the millions of other fantastic human beings curious about artificial intelligence (AI).
Val is a well-educated former school teacher, mother and grandmother to more than I can count, and an active member of her local community. Tony is a retired Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who enjoys caravanning around the UK and France with my Auntie Ann. He was awarded an MBE (highest award in the Order of the British Empire) for his many years of service to his local communities.
I've organized the book so you can start on page one and read to the end in a single day. It's also fun and engaging, meaning once you start reading, you won't want to stop.
You'll learn the fundamentals of AI, some of the exciting ways we're using them today, and the kinds of things to expect and look out for in the future. And the book doesn't shy away from the hard and sometimes controversial questions.
I've also tried hard not to impose my own opinions. I present the facts, pose some fascinating questions, and leave you to form your own opinions. Whether you want to use AI, avoid it, be excited about it, or be afraid of it is entirely up to you.
One last thing. Except for spelling and grammar checks, I haven't used AI to help with any of the writing aspects of this book -- it's all written by a good old human being.
About the author
Nigel Poulton is a best-selling author and video-trainer. He has sold over 1.5 million books and videos helping software engineers and computer scientists learn to use new technologies. He is best known for his ability to demystify and explain complex topics in simple terms.
Before writing books, Nigel deployed and managed cutting-edge internet technologies in some of the most demanding business environments in the world..
He lives in the UK with his wife and three children, where he coaches youth sports and enjoys watching football (soccer) and Formula 1.
•X: @nigelpoulton
•LinkedIn: Nigel Poulton
•Web: nigelpoulton.com
Table of Contents
1. Primer
2. Building advanced AIs
3. Using AI
Part 2
4. Humans misusing AIs
5. Rogue AIs
6. Conclusion
Glossary
Guide
Cover
1. Primer
This chapter will lay some important groundwork and get you up to speed with the basics of artificial intelligence (AI). It will also pose some questions to stimulate your thinking. Don’t worry if some things are confusing or you feel like you want to know more; we’ll revisit everything in more detail in later chapters.
We’ll begin by discovering what AI means to you and then start building on that. We’ll introduce you to some of the world’s most advanced AIs, give you a glimpse of how we create them, and round out the chapter by asking some important questions and outlining a few concerns.
At the end of each chapter section, I’ll list an important take-home point and build this out as we progress through the chapter.
Remember, though, the goal of this chapter is to get you started.
In the beginning
Little did they know it, but more than two and a half million years ago, when our early ancestors created the first stone tools, they set us on a voyage of change and discovery where every subsequent tool and invention has edged us ever closer to the ultimate tool… AI!
While that might sound grandiose, a quick look at a few pivotal tools and inventions reveals a clear pathway to AI.
From stone tools, we discovered metalwork, which gave us better tools for hunting and agriculture. Fast-forward a few millennia, and we have the scientific method, which gifted us, among other things, germ theory, astronomy, and modern medicine. Fast-forward again to the 20th century, where the invention of the transistor enabled modern computers, which, in turn, enabled us to invent the internet, mobile phones, and now AI.
Just like the wheel, modern medicine, and the internet, AI has the potential to change the course of human civilization and is here to stay.
But are we on a collision course with AI, and what will happen when we build advanced AIs?
Undoubtedly, AI could be our most disruptive invention to date–more disruptive than the internet, mobile phones, and social media. As such, it could ignite a golden era of human progress and prosperity or a world of hardship and suffering. But even bigger questions exist, such as whether AI could advance so far beyond humanity as to relegate us to a mere footnote in the broader evolution of intelligence.
Of course, there’s also the possibility that AI will fail to live up to the hype and be nothing more than a footnote in human history.
These are big questions, and there are many more like them. And while we can’t predict exact futures, this book will give you the knowledge and confidence to form your own informed opinions.
Take home point: We’re building AIs.
What is AI
Before I throw the dictionary definition at you, ask yourself the following questions. It might be interesting to write down your answers to see if they change by the end of the book.
Now, compare your answers with some of the answers I got when I asked my family and friends the same questions.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term “AI”?
Describe AI in one sentence.
While none of the people I asked are AI experts, their responses are interesting and demonstrate varying attitudes and levels of understanding. For example, some didn’t feel they could even attempt to describe AI.
Now, let’s ask a few so-called experts to describe AI in a single sentence.
I asked the popular Merriam-Webster online dictionary, I asked Google, I asked two of the world’s most advanced AIs, and I asked myself. Here’s what I got:
Merriam-Webster online dictionary:“The power of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior.”
Google’s top answer:“AI is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities.”
Claude AI:“AI is the simulation of human intelligence in machines, enabling them to learn, reason, and perform tasks that typically require human cognitive abilities.”
ChatGPT: (Unfortunately, ChatGPT replied with one of the longest and most complicated sentences I’ve ever seen. In fact, it was so long and technical that I didn’t have the patience to read it).
Me:“Machines with human-like intelligence or better.”
There are some interesting trends in these “expert” responses.
Every answer referenced human intelligence, and mine was the only one that didn’t include the terms imitate or simulate. Mine was also the only answer to suggest AIs might have greater intelligence than humans. None of the answers implied any form of consciousness or self-awareness.
Take home point: We’re building AIs, which are machines with human-like intelligence.
From spam filters to superintelligence
Not all AIs are created equal.
To help classify them, researchers group AIs into one of the following three classes based on their level of intelligence:
To keep the jargon and acronyms to a minimum, we’ll call them narrow intelligence, general intelligence, and superintelligence. And yes, writing superintelligence as a single word is normal.
In the simplest terms, narrow intelligences are the least intelligent AIs, superintelligences are the most intelligent, and general intelligences are somewhere in the middle.
At the time I’m writing this book, we’ve only created narrow intelligences. However, things are moving fast, and some researchers think we’re close to creating general intelligences, and once we do that, superintelligences will quickly follow.
Let’s take a closer look at each.
All of the AIs that we have today are narrow intelligences. They’re the most basic kind, and we sometimes refer to them as weak intelligence. They include things like Alexa, Siri, your email spam filter, facial recognition systems, chess engines, self-driving cars, fraud detection systems, photo editing apps on your phone, and even ChatGPT. Many narrow intelligences can only do a single task, and none of them can learn beyond their original programming. This means they cannot learn from their experiences and get smarter.
General intelligences are the next level up and are a form of strong intelligence that can understand and learn like humans. We haven’t invented them yet, but nations, investors, and global technology companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in a race to be first. If and when we create them, they will be able to do everything an educated adult human can do, including learning beyond their original programming. For example, a general intelligence programmed to specialize in mathematics might teach itself biology and medicine and help us invent cures for diseases. General intelligences may even invent things themselves without collaborating with humans.
Superintelligences will be the real game changers, as they’ll operate far beyond human intelligence and have almost unlimited potential. For example, they may one day eradicate disease, invent clean power, reverse climate change, and solve every solvable problem. They’ll also have immense potential to cause harm and suffering.
Now, I know how ridiculous some of those superintelligence predictions may sound. They used to sound just as unrealistic to me. However, if we accept even the remotest possibility that artificial superintelligence may one day be orders of magnitude smarter than the smartest human, we must also accept that today’s rules will no longer apply. We’ll talk about this a lot in later chapters.
However, we’re getting ahead of ourselves as AGIs and ASIs are purely hypothetical at the time of writing. But as previously stated, some experts believe we’re on the verge of creating general intelligences–possibly as soon as 2030 or before. And suppose they’re right and we successfully create general intelligences that can learn and improve. In that case, we may enter a cycle where AIs improve themselves at ever-increasing rates until we have an intelligence explosion that gives birth to a superintelligence. If this happens, and it’s a big “if”, but if it happens, all bets are off, and we’ll be in uncharted territory. In the words of the late Vernor Vinge,“We will soon create intelligences greater than our own. When this happens… the world will pass far beyond our understanding.”
To add some balance to the discussion, many other experts think we’re nowhere near creating general intelligences, and some think we may never create them.
Take home point: We’re building AIs, which are machines with human-like intelligence that may one day outsmart us.
What is ChatGPT
As I’ve mentioned ChatGPT a few times, I guess I should explain it.
ChatGPT is an AI created by a company called OpenAI and is responsible for sparking much of the current public interest in artificial intelligence. People are using it to write letters and essays, summarize large documents, answer questions, and my mother-in-law is even using it for recipe ideas and more.
It’s a type of AI called a chatbot and is currently a narrow intelligence. I say it’s “currently a narrow intelligence” because it may one day evolve into a general intelligence and even a superintelligence. In fact, some people already class it as a potential emerging AGI, which is jargon for saying that ChatGPT is constantly being improved and may one day be far more advanced than it is today.
But wait… if ChatGPT is a narrow intelligence, and we just said narrow intelligences can’t learn, how can it be constantly improving?
That’s an important question we’ll return to later in the book. But here’s the quick answer. Even though narrow intelligences cannot learn and improve themselves, the companies that created them are constantly making newer, more intelligent versions that can give the impression that ChatGPT and other AIs are getting smarter. As a quick example, I’ve used ChatGPT for a while, and it’s definitely improved over time. However, this isn’t because the original version of ChatGPT has learned new things for itself. It’s because the company that owns ChatGPT has created and released improved versions. If today’s version of ChatGPT could improve itself without OpenAI making new versions, it would be a general intelligence.
I also said ChatGPT is a chatbot, so what is one of those?
Chatbot is short for chat robot
