Artificial intelligence is the process of making a machine behave in a way that would traditionally be considered intelligent. This can range from something as simple as teaching a computer to recognize patterns, to something as complex as making a computer system that can replicate or exceed human intelligence. There are many different ways that artificial intelligence can be used, such as creating expert systems, teaching machines to understand human language, developing systems that can identify what is being said just by listening, and creating machines that can see and interpret their surroundings.

How does AI work?

As the hype surrounding AI has increased, vendors have been scrambling to promote how their products and services make use of AI. What people typically refer to as AI is just one facet of AI, such as machine learning. Artificial intelligence requires a set of hardware and software specifically designed to create and train machine learning algorithms. There is no single programming language that can be called the “language of AI”, but some languages, such as Python, R, and Java, are more commonly used for developing AI applications.

AI systems learn from labeled data to find patterns. These patterns are then used to make predictions about future states. In this way, a chatbot that is given examples of text chats can learn to produce realistic exchanges with people, or an image recognition tool can learn to identify and describe objects in images by reviewing millions of examples.

Three cognitive skills that are focused on in AI programming are learning, reasoning, and self-correction.

Learning processes. This area of AI programming is concerned with acquiring data and creating rules for how to convert the data into useful information. The algorithms, or rules, tell computing devices what steps to take in order to complete a task.

Reasoning processes. This part of AI programming is about finding the best algorithm to achieve the goal you want.

Self-correction processes. The goal of this area of AI programming is to keep improving algorithms so that they produces the most precise results possible.

Why is artificial intelligence important?

Artificial intelligence is important for businesses because it can help them understand their operations better and in some cases AI can do tasks better than humans. AI is particularly good at completing repetitive, detail-oriented tasks quickly and with relatively few errors.

An increase in efficiency has caused a growth in new business opportunities for larger companies. It’s amazing that Uber has become such a big company by just using computer software to connect riders with taxis. Its sophisticated machine learning algorithms predict when people in certain areas are likely to need rides, which helps get drivers on the road proactively, before they’re needed. An example of this is Google using machine learning to understand how people use their services and then improving them. This means that Google will primarily use artificial intelligence to guide their decisions and operations in the future.

Companies that have integrated AI into their business model are seeing significant improvements in their performance.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence?

The technologies of artificial neural networks and deep learning artificial intelligence are evolving rapidly, due to the fact that AI can process large amounts of data much faster than humans, and make predictions more accurately.

The immense amount of data generated on a daily basis would be too much for a human researcher to handle, but AI applications that use machine learning can take that data and quickly turn it into useful information. One drawback to using AI is that it can be expensive to handle the vast amount of data that AI needs.

Advantages

Good at detail-oriented jobs;
Reduced time for data-heavy tasks;
Delivers consistent results; and
AI-powered virtual agents are always available.

Disadvantages

Expensive;
Requires deep technical expertise;
Limited supply of qualified workers to build AI tools;
Only knows what it’s been shown; and
Lack of ability to generalize from one task to another.

Strong AI vs. weak AI

AI can be categorized as either weak or strong.

Weak AI, also known as narrow AI, is an AI system that is designed and trained to complete a specific task. Industrial robots and virtual personal assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, use weak AI.
Strong AI, also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), describes programming that can replicate the cognitive abilities of the human brain. When presented with an unfamiliar task, a strong AI system can use fuzzy logic to apply knowledge from one domain to another and find a solution autonomously. In theory, a strong AI program should be able to pass both a Turing Test and the Chinese room test.

What are the 4 types of artificial intelligence?

Arend Hintze, an assistant professor of integrative biology and computer science and engineering at Michigan State University, explained in a 2016 article that AI can be categorized into four types, beginning with the task-specific intelligent systems in wide use today and progressing to sentient systems, which do not yet exist. The categories are as follows:

Type 1: Reactive machines. These AI systems have no memory and are task specific. An example is Deep Blue, the IBM chess program that beat Garry Kasparov in the 1990s. Deep Blue can identify pieces on the chessboard and make predictions, but because it has no memory, it cannot use past experiences to inform future ones.
Type 2: Limited memory. These AI systems have memory, so they can use past experiences to inform future decisions. Some of the decision-making functions in self-driving cars are designed this way.
Type 3: Theory of mind. Theory of mind is a psychology term. When applied to AI, it means that the system would have the social intelligence to understand emotions. This type of AI will be able to infer human intentions and predict behavior, a necessary skill for AI systems to become integral members of human teams.
Type 4: Self-awareness. In this category, AI systems have a sense of self, which gives them consciousness. Machines with self-awareness understand their own current state. This type of AI does not yet exist.

I compiled a list of tips to get more accurate results when using Google search. I’m sure there are things on this list that you already know, but I’m also confident that there are at least a few items that you didn’t know about.

10 Ways Marketers & Other Humans Can Search Smarter & Faster in Google

1. Make your Intent Clear

If you want to find an article on a specific subject, use words in your search phrase that say what it is you want to do. For example, if you want to find an article about puppies, use the word “puppies” in your search phrase. To ensure you find what you are looking for when researching Bigfoot, use more specific terms such as “Bigfoot History” or “Bigfoot documentation.” However, if you are wanting to purchase a Bigfoot Truck, use a term like “Shop Bigfoot Trucks.” Simply typing “Bigfoot” for either of these searches is unlikely to provide the desired results.

2. Don’t Use Stop Words (well, mostly not)

Librarians do not use “stop” words like “the”, “of”, “with”, “to”, “from”, and “an” when organizing information. Here’s a great list of “stop” words: http://www.webconfs.com/stop-words.php

Search engines on the internet act like librarians, organizing information and making it easier to find.

Other than both being excellent at finding information, search engines and librarians have something else in common.

This means that search engines generally do not take into account stop words when they are looking for matching content.

3. Get Used to Getting Different Search Results than Your Friends

If you are logged into Google, your search results will be personalized according to your online behaviors, the people you follow, and your location. Google may also use other factors to customize your results.

Personalized results can save you a lot of time. If you want to find the closest Starbucks as fast as possible, logging in might be an advantage.

You must log out of Google and select “InPrivateBrowsing” under “Tools” in Internet Explorer, or under “Tools” then “Options” in Firefox, or in the toolbox in the upper right of a Chrome browser select “Open a new incognito window” if you don’t want personalized results.

Even if you browse privately, your results may be different than a friend’s who lives in a different geographic location because the engine may take into consideration the location of your IP address.

4. Use Google’s Auto-Suggest + Related Searches

(Yes, they are still there)

If you only know part of the name for something you are searching, try looking it up anyway. It’s possible that you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for. For example, if you wanted to find a Shure microphone and knew that the model number started with “SM” but didn’t know the rest, you could use the search feature on the website. Go to Google and type “shure sm” without hitting “Enter.” Wow, look at that! Google has ten suggestions that appear in a drop down menu.

Now, here’s something most people don’t know. Once you have entered your search query and the auto-suggestions have appeared in the drop-down menu, hit the enter key to confirm your search. Scroll to the bottom of the resulting page to view the search results. Well, what do you know! Look at that. There are 8 additional search term suggestions that are different from the 10 listed in the auto-suggest drop-down menu. Nifty!

5. Use the “Search Tools” Tab

When you click the “Search Tools” tab at the top of your search results page, you’ll see three things magically appear that weren’t there before:

Any Time
All Results
City, State (mine happened to be Olympia, WA)

Each of these has its own dropdown menu.

6. Use Boolean Search

In the upper right corner of Google’s main search page, there is a small round icon that says “Options” when you hover your mouse over it.

When you select “Advanced Search”, the resulting page provides you with options to filter your search results using Boolean logic. I know, you’re sitting there saying “Booleah-who?”

The search method known as Boolean search was invented in 1854. It is commonly used by librarians and others who work with large quantities of material that must be carefully organized. It helps to use some mathematical logic to make searches faster and more efficient, and to produce better results.

7. Adjust Your Search Settings

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to go through so many pages when you’re trying to do some research? Is it your desire for Google to show more than 10 search results on a page?

Wish granted!

Click the little cog when icon in the upper right of your search results page:

Also stored in the “Options” menu is a link to “Search settings.” This takes you to a page where you can adjust settings for the following:

Filter explicit results – A must if you are a parent or if your workplace strictly prohibits accessing explicit content.
Instant predictions – Here, if you select “Never show instant results” you get access to a slider allowing you to adjust how many results you want to see on a page. Magical!

Here’s How to Turn Google Search History On and Off:

From the “Options” Menu, Select “Web history”
Once in Web History, re-click on the little Options cog wheel icon
Select “Settings”
Here select “Web History is off” or “Turn On”

8. Learn How to Use “I’m Feeling Lucky”

If you ask anyone who uses Google regularly, they probably don’t know what the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button does. If you ask someone what will happen if you click the “I’m feeling lucky” button on Google’s homepage, they will usually say that it will take you to a random website.

That’s not what it does.

In Steve Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think”, he talks about how important it is for website buttons to be clear and descriptive. Google’s Web usability team clearly didn’t read the book, because they named a button something that doesn’t give the user any information about what will happen when they click it.

This is what it does:

There is no quicker way to get to your preferred brand, store, or celebrity’s homepage than by bookmarking it. Try it! Type McDonalds into the search menu, hit I’m feeling lucky and presto! There you are on the McDonald’s homepage. You were taken directly to the site you wanted without having to go through the search results page.

9. Use the Knowledge Graph

Some of you are thinking “The Knowledge Who?” I’ll save you the definition and show you instead. Go to Google search and type in “Benjamin Franklin.” Now look at the results on the right side of the page…Ooohhh, look at that! The author thinks it’s pretty cool that they have pictures, dates, and the name of all of his children.