It is impossible to imagine daily life without AI. In several areas, robots and diagnostic devices are speeding up and simplifying procedures. Every day, new successes are achieved in the field of AI. In the following article, we report on the beginnings and current achievements of AI technology.
History of AI
The beginnings of artificial intelligence occurred as early as 1936 when Alan Turing invented the eponymous Turing machine. Thereby, he laid the foundation for machines that could independently identify algorithms, proving that machines could mimic cognitive processes by breaking them down into small steps. In 1956, the term AI was coined by John McCarthy at a scientific conference.
In 1966, the first chatbot is created which was able to communicate with humans as a computer program and, for example, represent a psychotherapist as a conversation partner. Finally, in 1972, a program was written to assist in medical diagnosis and therapy. In 1997, the machine was officially superior to humans for the first time when a computer – the AI chess machine Deep Blue – defeated the world champion in a chess tournament. Even today, many players regularly compete against machines. Those who want to try their luck themselves can do so at various online gaming arcades. There, players can compete in live tournaments against both human competitors and machine opponents. Since there is a wide selection of online casinos, various comparison portals help to find the best bonus offers and the largest game selection. Such sites are available for free with just one click and provide a good overview to find the best online betting sites in UAE, for example. Since 2011, AI programs have arrived in people’s everyday lives: That year, Apple’s Siri is launched, bringing AI into numerous households. Cortana from Microsoft followed in 2014, and Alexa from Amazon Echo in 2015.
Latest technical achievements in the field of AI
Recently, new successes have been celebrated again, which join the long success story of AI: researchers developed a four-legged robot and taught it to walk so that it can now move like a dog. “ANYmal” can walk quickly and safely over uneven terrain while making its own decisions. Like a human on a challenging hiking trip, many considerations must be strived for and decided upon to safely hike difficult trails, such as where the trail is more level and safer to walk on.
To make a decision, many different sensory impressions and experiences have to be evaluated. ANYmal succeeded in learning to do this, as it recently proved by hiking through the Alps. In preparation, the robot was taught in a virtual world to combine its visual perception of the environment and the sense of touch in its legs. This enables the robot to roam through unknown terrain. Such robots might assist in future times with exploring dangerous and complex environments where conventional robots fail, the developers say. The fact that the robot can easily walk such a difficult terrain can be considered a great success.
Previously, many developers struggled to design such a robot, blaming several factors. Transferring the required complex performance capabilities to autonomous robotic systems poses a problem for many inventors. The reason mainly is that the necessary information is provided by laser sensors and information recorded with cameras that represent the immediate environment is often ambiguous. Tallgrass, a small puddle or a little mound of snow can therefore seem like insurmountable obstacles to the robot. As a result, the program has to learn for itself which images and information it trusts and what it relies on.
As a result, the robot had to learn to focus on its sense of touch for environmental orientation and to make spontaneous decisions. The robot’s hike through the complex terrain in the Alps which is completed without any problems proves that it has now succeeded in this. If in the future the dangerous job of an explorer is no longer taken on by humans, but by AI-programmed robots, it is possible that many human lives will be saved and new exciting insights can still be provided. ANYmal and its successors could also be ready to traverse an area after an earthquake, nuclear disaster, or during and after forest fires and provide support.
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