Roos van Delzen

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Without an official announcement, we’re in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). On an almost daily basis, AI technologies are pushing their way into our lives. It is increasingly applied in science, but also the medical industry is using AI to help detect diseases. AI systems are now superior at numerous tasks that were once done best by humans.

Despite the promising capabilities of AI, when it comes to human capabilities, Artificial Intelligence falls short. Take conversational AIs. We humans are not only intelligent, we are unable to separate our emotions from the way in which we apply intelligence. These emotions are integrated within our reasoning process when we form human reactions, especially when it might affect other people’s behavior. AI simply cannot provide certain factors crucial in human interaction, such as humor, warmth and the ability to anticipate on someone else’s behavior. The systems just have no empathy or feelings.

Over the last couple of years, AI has improved significantly in detecting human emotions. But until now, nobody has managed to integrate these skills successfully into an actual conversational AI system. And indeed, how to explain a robot how humor operates? We humans are social creatures, but the systems still lack a deeper understanding of different meanings of words, the emotions they can convey and the potential impact they can have.

There are still a lot of difficulties to overcome before conversational AIs are capable to actually sound human. They are a long time away from feeling emotion akin to us humans, mastering our ‘sophisticated’ language style and have a chat in the human sense of the word.

Brynjolfsson, E., and Mcafee, A. (2017). The business of artificial intelligence: what it can and cannot do for your organization. Harvard Business Review

Darlington, K. (2018). AI systems dealing with human emotions: how the future will be like with emotional machines. Retrieved from https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/ai-systems-dealing-with-human-emotions/

Dethlefs, N. (2018). You know nothing AI, that’s why you’re bad at conversation. Retrieved from https://thenextweb.com/syndication/2018/09/27/you-know-nothing-ai-thats-why-youre-bad-at-conversation/

Ritchie, G. (2009). Can computers create humor?. AI Magazine, 30(3), 71.

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Smart thermostats, irrigation systems and deep-learning algorithms to predict extreme weather events; is AI the long-sought solution for the major environmental issues we face today?

With an ever-growing emphasis on global warming, people are no longer arguing the existence of global warming, but rather its solution. Luckily, there is a tool to help us limit the impact of global warming and protect mother earth: Artificial Intelligence (AI). At the moment, AI and machine learning technologies already help us to understand the world that we are living in, for example by predicting and analyzing extreme whether events. These technologies can be used to diminish our human impact on the environment, to keep people safe and creating a healthier world. It enhances the chances we have to stall the trajectory of climate change we are currently on. Are we being overly positive? Maybe. But something has to change.

The use of big data about the world’s land surfaces, gathered by NASA, gives a more accurate perspective on the current status of the world’s climate. This information can be used to determine the risk zones and vulnerable areas. Once the risk zones are identified, climate researchers will be able to use AI and machine learning to test out their predictions, theories and solutions. Not only climate researchers benefit from these tools, also companies use AI to gain a better insight in their energy usage, which enables them to cut the amount of energy used and thereby reduce the carbon-footprint and corresponding costs.

But it is not just companies and nations, also citizens have to commit on reducing their impact. Green initiatives, such as smart-thermostats, will offer people an easy tool to help them reduce their appetite for electricity.

If everyone works together, in the end it will definitely add up. There is no doubt; AI will help us in dealing with global warming. The question is, can AI the ‘game changer’ we’ve all ben looking for?

Resources:

https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/12/microsoft-ai-smarts-benefit-environment/?guccounter=1
https://www.dw.com/en/ai-could-help-us-protect-the-environment-or-destroy-it/a-44694471
https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2017/12/11/ai-for-earth-can-be-a-game-changer-for-our-planet/

Why does “Siri, tell us a joke” probably not give you the desired result?

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Will AI play the key role in curtailing climate change?

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