Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is also the name of the academic field of study which studies how to create computers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behavior. Major AI researchers and textbooks define this field as “the study and design of intelligent agents”, in which an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.
Advantages:
With artificial intelligence, the chances of error are almost nil and greater precision and accuracy is achieved.
▸ Artificial intelligence finds applications in space exploration. Intelligent robots can be used to explore space. They are machines and hence have the ability to endure the hostile environment of the interplanetary space.
▸ They can be used to dig for fuels. They can be used for mining purposes. These machines can be of use in overcoming the limitations that humans have.
▸ Intelligent machines can replace human beings in many areas of work. Painstaking activities, which have long been carried out by humans can be taken over by the robots. The machines can shoulder greater responsibilities and can be programmed to manage themselves.
▸ Smartphones are a great example of the application of artificial intelligence. In utilities like predicting what a user is going to type and correcting human errors in spelling, machine intelligence is at work.
▸ Fraud detection in smart card-based systems is possible with the use of AI, AND is also employed by financial institutions and banks to organize and manage records.
▸ Lacking the emotional side, robots can think logically and take the right decisions. Sentiments are associated with moods that affect human efficiency.
▸ Artificial intelligence can be utilized in carrying out repetitive and time-consuming tasks efficiently.
▸ Intelligent machines can be employed to do certain dangerous tasks.
▸ When we play a computer game or operate a computer-controlled bot, we are in fact interacting with artificial intelligence.
▸ AI is at work in the medical field too. Algorithms can help the doctors assess patients and their health risks. It can help them know the side effects that various medicines can have. Surgery simulators use machine intelligence in training medical professionals. AI can be used to simulate brain functioning, and thus prove useful in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological problems.
▸ The greatest advantage of artificial intelligence is that machines do not require sleep or breaks, and are able to function without stopping.
Disadvantages:
▸ One of the main disadvantages of artificial intelligence is the cost incurred in the maintenance and repair. Programs need to be updated to suit the changing requirements, and machines need to be made smarter. In case of a breakdown, the cost of repair may be very high.
▸ Machines may be able to store enormous amounts of data, but the storage, access, and retrieval is not as effective as in case of the human brain. They may be able to perform repetitive tasks for long, but they do not get better with experience, like humans do.
▸ Imagine intelligent machines employed in creative fields. Do you think robots can excel or even compete the human mind in creative thinking or originality? Thinking machines lack a creative mind. Human beings are emotional intellectuals. They think and feel. Their feelings guide their thoughts. This is not the case with machines.
▸ If robots begin to replace humans in every field, it will eventually lead to unemployment.
▸ Also, due to the reduced need to use their intelligence, lateral thinking and multitasking abilities of humans may diminish. With so much assistance from machines, if humans do not need to use their thinking abilities, these abilities will gradually decline.
▸ If the control of machines goes in the wrong hands, it may cause destruction.
▸ Apart from all these cons of AI, there is a fear of robots superseding humans. Ideally, human beings should continue to be the masters of machines. However, if things turn the other way round, the world will turn into chaos. Intelligent machines may prove to be smarter than us, they might enslave us and start ruling the world.
Sources:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-artificial-intelligence.html
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