Artificial Intelligence

Eradium glossary artificial intelligence girl

Artificial Intelligence

Due to broad meaning, the word Artificial Intelligence (AI) requires more than one definition to show various perspectives and aspects of the term.

Miriam Webster Dictionary (1) provides the following two definitions of the words Artificial Intelligence:

  1. a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers
  2. the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior

The dictionary does also provide the appropriate definition for kids (3):

  • the power of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior

The last definition is likely the most common among the audience that doesn’t work in research or technology areas that are related to the branch of Artificial Intelligence.

Sci-fi books and movies frequently present Artificial Intelligence as the power of a machine sometimes having superior intelligence than humans.

Wikipedia (3) attempts to provide a more precise definition of the term:

Term “artificial intelligence” is applied when a machine mimics “cognitive” functions that humans associate with other human minds, such as “learning” and “problem-solving.”

The “ learning ability” is an essential characteristic of a system that we consider of having some of Artificial Intelligence capabilities. You may find more information about AI learning techniques in the glossary articles regarding Machine Learning (4) and Deep Learning (5).

Machine Learning including Deep Learning is a foundational component of any Artificial Intelligence Capability.

Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

Wikipedia Artificial Intelligence (2) article classifies the following capabilities of the modern systems as AI:

  • Understanding human speech
  • Competing in strategic games: Chess or Go
  • Self-driving cars
  • Intelligent routing in content delivery networks
  • Military simulations
  • Interpreting complex data

Artificial Intelligence Technologies

We can observe practical business realization of the Artificial Intelligence Capabilities in so-called AI technologies. We may group AI technologies based on the power to imitate human abilities to sense, think and act. (6, 7):

Sense

  • Image and video analysis
  • Biometrics
  • Speech recognition
  • Text analytics and Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Think

  • Machine learning platforms
  • Deep learning platforms
  • Semantic technology
  • AI-optimized hardware
  • Swarm intelligence

Act

  • Natural language generation
  • Decision management

Sense, think, and act

  • Robotic process automation
  • Virtual agents

Artificial Intelligence and Retail

The most impact Artificial Intelligence had on online retail since earlier days of e-commerce. A recommender system that provides personalized product recommendation using machine-learning methods was one of the first applications of AI technologies in electronic commerce (8).

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said at the Internet Association’s Gala2017 event (9):

“Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become a “horizontal enabling layer” influencing many of Amazon’s endeavors beyond the e-commerce giant’s Alexa virtual assistant, including its sire search and product recommendation capabilities and even its Prime Air drone delivery effort.”

“It is things like improved search results. Improved product recommendations for customers. Improved forecasting for inventory management. Literally hundreds of other things beneath the surface,”

The modern-day retail may benefit from Artificial Intelligence technologies in most of the business functions ranging from personalized marketing to supply chain management.

You may also find interesting an infographic published  by Futurism:

AI Forecast for 2017

References

  1. Artificial Intelligence, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artificial%20intelligence
  2. Student Dictionary, http://www.wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=artificial%20intelligence
  3. Artificial intelligence, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
  4. Machine Learning, https://www.eradium.com/glossary-definition/machine-learning/
  5. Deep Learning,https://www.eradium.com/glossary-definition/deep-learning/
  6. Artificial Intelligence Q1 2017 trends. What key lessons did we learn?, https://www.eradium.com/artificial-intelligence-q1-2017/
  7. TechRadar™: Artificial Intelligence Technologies, Q1 2017, https://www.forrester.com/report/TechRadar+Artificial+Intelligence+Technologies+Q1+2017/-/E-RES129161
  8. Recommender System In Retail – Toronto Data Mining Forum, https://www.eradium.com/recommender-system-in-retail-toronto-data-mining-forum/
  9. Jeff Bezos: Artificial intelligence permeates Amazon’s business strategy, http://www.retaildive.com/news/jeff-bezos-artificial-intelligence-permeates-amazons-business-strategy/442141/