How has Artificial Intelligence changed our daily lives?

 

In the past, the phenomenons that made life more convenient for our ancestors were termed to be “magic” and “supernatural powers”. Now? It's called technology. And the “magic spells” are now termed as the complicated algorithms that get this technology running. One such technology that has occupied a prominent place in our present lives is Artificial Intelligence. 

 

“As a technologist, I see how AI and the fourth industrial revolution will impact every aspect of people’s lives.” –  Fei-Fei Li, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University.

 

Firstly let's get a brief gist of what Artificial Intelligence actually is. 

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch in computer science that is concerned with the intelligent behavior of machines. It is the resourceful ability of a machine to simulate human behavior and their routine response patterns. (Referred blog: When Artificial Intelligence (AI) And Neuroscience Meet)

 

This is enabled through particular algorithms that assist the AI to function in a specified range of activities, i.e as per the purpose of the algorithm codes. This means that with Artificial Intelligence, various of our everyday activities can now take place flawlessly with programmed machine technology.

 

Back in 1927 when Artificial Intelligence was first featured in “Metropolis” in a time when movies didn’t even have sound, no one had thought the possibilities of this technology could be so wide and encompassing.

 

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a figment of the imagination of science fiction authors, the technology is now paving its way to establishing itself subtly or not so subtly in our everyday lives. The technology is now all-pervasive, from aiding in weather forecasts, recommending shows on Netflix, filtering spam emails, enabling search predictions in Google, and voice recognition, such as Apple’s Siri, it is everywhere. (Check the beneficial application and tools of Google AI).

 

While there will definitely be difficulties being encountered as the AI technology evolves, yet the positive effect it will have on society in terms of efficiency is immeasurable.

 

 

Impact of Artificial Intelligence in our Everyday Lives

 

“It will change how we relate to each other. I would argue that it will even change how we perceive what it means to be human. “ -- David Coplin

 

It’s fascinating the way Artificial Intelligence has become involved in our existence and we encounter it in our daily lives without even realizing it.

 

From aiding in avoiding traffic, offering movies or music recommendations, voice-controlled personal digital assistants, the popular self-driving cars and vehicles, instant translation of machines and various other power-packed predictive capabilities are just some applications of the forms Artificial Intelligence has taken up today. There are various other examples of AI being leveraged in our everyday lives. 

 

Below is a list of some of the intriguing areas, Artificial Intelligence has become a prominent part of the present time which will only expand in the future;

 

1. Thwarting heart attacks

 

AI can now be employed to potentially safeguard our lives. The technology has been employed to precisely and accurately examine medical information and aid in predicting if a patient is vulnerable to a heart attack or stroke. You can gain further knowledge of AI’s role in the medical sector through our blog on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

 

2. Nest learning thermostat

 

Google’s Nest learning thermostat which is now also supported by Amazon’s Alexa, employs behavioral algorithms for garnering knowledge regarding the user’s heating and cooling needs, thus predicting and regulating the temperature in the user’s home or office based on their needs.

 

3. Predictive purchasing

 

There is a predictive shipping project which ships the items to the user before the user requires them. It basically makes use of the record of the user’s past spending habits with regards to regular items and ships them to the user before they run out.

 

4. Identifying criminals

 

Artificial Intelligence is capable of identifying criminals and also at the same time the technology has also managed to facilitate typical facial features which could help in indicating that the person is less than law-abiding or poses a threat. 

 

5. Search and rescue

 

We're already aware of the increased use of Drones in our everyday lives. These drones are also being employed to facilitate footage of disaster areas in real-time. Artificial Intelligence allows the assessment of massive amounts of data, photos, and footage to aid in locating missing people.

 

6. Recruitment

 

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Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

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As we move towards a digitally-driven world the role of AI in areas like recruitment has definitely escalated. The technology is expected to cut down the workload for employees, along with making the tasks of hiring and recruiting as well as HR Analytics more easier and more efficient. 

 

7. Personalized health monitoring

 

Machine Learning is allowing us to assess our health by employing devices like smartwatches which have made health telemetry a reality. The more personal data these algorithms are fed, the better they comprehend a user’s profile, thus allowing healthcare professionals to notice any potential anomalies at the early stage. 

 

(Now that I mentioned Machine Learning, you can also spare a glance at our blog on 7 Popular Applications of Machine Learning in Daily Life)

 

8. Commercial Airline Flights

 

Surprisingly Artificial Intelligence minimizes the work of the pilot in the cockpit largely. As per a 2015 survey of airline Boeing, 777 pilots had reported allocating merely 7 minutes manually into flying the plane during a typical flight, with the rest of the work being carried out by AI technology. 

 

9. Designing New images

 

A Deep Learning network can carry out multiple activities such as producing actual street scenes through colored blobs, turning day scenes into the night, or filling out the colors between object edges. 

 

10. Voice generation and simulation

 

When it comes to automatic voice generation, Deep Learning is taking us a step closer to giving computers the ability to speak like humans do and even allowing the technology to copy the user’s voice.

 

11. Music composition

 

Artificial Intelligence can also be employed for music composition similar to the manner in which it is used for aiding in voice recognition. For example, Aiva Technologies, a startup in AI music composition has created an AI called “Aiva” (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist) and coached it on how to compose classical music, an art that is normally considered to be a uniquely human quality. The technology’s musical pieces are employed as soundtracks for film directors, advertising agencies as well as game studios. 

 

 

12. Digital Assistants 

 

Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana are all digital assistants that aid users in carrying out various activities from directing commands to external apps to scanning their schedules and probing information on the web. These apps absorb knowledge from each interaction of the user making AI an important aspect of their functioning. 

 

You can get a better knowledge of how Apple uses AI through this blog. 

 

 

13. Audio Noise Reduction

Did you know that AI makes it plausible to muffle or mute the sound in a video and enables the computer to recompose the sound that it wishes to hear? Machine learning algorithms are capable of identifying and suppressing loud noises to separate one's conversation from the unnecessary background. For example, with Mozilla’s RNNoise: Learning Noise Suppression, Mozilla is able to differentiate between voice and noise and thoroughly cut down the background noise.

 

 

14. Foresee earthquakes

 

Various Harvard scientists have employed Deep Learning to coach a computer on how to carry out viscoelastic computations, which are the computations employed in forecasting earthquakes. As per a research paper by Harvard University, such computations are very computer-intensive, yet this application of Deep Learning has enhanced the calculation time by 50,000%. With timing having an extremely potent role in predicting earthquakes, this improvement becomes highly useful. 

 

 

Conclusion

 

“What all of us have to do is to make sure we are using AI in a way that is for the benefit of humanity, not to the detriment of humanity.” –Tim Cook

 

Technology is impacting the way humans live as well as the way they interact with the world and this is hardly the end. Artificial Intelligence, in particular, has established its prominence everywhere and incorporated a massive difference in our everyday lives.  There are a lot more developments to follow in the upcoming years, redefining the way the world operates. 

 

In a Ted Talk, the digital visionary Kevin Kelly emphasized that AI holds the power to be the catalyst prompting a second industrial revolution. We will reach a time where bots will be developed that will take over jobs yet at the same time also create new jobs that are inconceivable at this stage.