InformationWeek - 12 Artificial Intelligence Terms You Need To Know

10/12/2017 InformationWeek - 12 Artificial Intelligence Terms You Need to Know
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InformationWeek
9/28/2017
11:00 AM
Cynthia Harvey
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12 Artificial Intelligence Terms You Need to Know
Is artificial intelligence the same thing as machine learning? And what is a neural network? This
slideshow explains fundamental AI terminology in everyday terms.
Suddenly, artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. For decades, the dream of creating machines that
can think and learn like humans seemed like it would be perpetually out of reach, but now artificial
intelligence is embedded in the phones we carry everywhere, the websites we use every day and, in
some cases, even in the appliances we use around our homes.
https://www.informationweek.com/big-data/ai-machine-learning/12-artificial-intelligence-terms-you-need-to-know/d/d-id/1330003?print=yes 1/12
Image: Pixabay
The market researchers at IDC have predicted that companies will spend $12.5 billion on cognitive
and AI systems in 2017, 59.3% more than they spent last year. And by 2020, total AI revenues could
top $46 billion.
In many cases, AI has crept into our lives and our work without us realizing it. A recent survey of 235
business executives conducted by the National Business Research Institute and sponsored by
Narrative Science found that while only 38% of respondents thought they were using AI in their
workplace, 88% of them were actually using AI-based technologies like predictive analytics,
automated reporting and voice recognition and response.
This highlights one of the big issues with artificial intelligence: A lot of people don't really understand
what AI is.
Adding more confusion to the mix, researchers and product developers who work in AI throw around
a lot of technical terms that can be baffling to the uninitiated. If they don't work directly on AI systems,
even veteran IT professionals sometimes have difficulty explaining the differences between machine
learning and deep learning or defining what exactly a neural network is.
With those tech pros in mind, we've put together a slideshow that defines 12 of the most important
terms related to artificial intelligence and machine learning. These are the AI jargon IT and business
leaders are most likely to encounter, and understanding these words can go a long way towards
providing a foundational understanding of this burgeoning area of technology.
Artificial Intelligence
Image: Pixabay
What is artificial intelligence? In the simplest terms, an artificial intelligence is a machine that can
think the way people think.
From the earliest days of computing, machines have been good at performing logical tasks like
solving simple math problems. However, other tasks, like carrying on a conversation, identifying
whether the animal in picture is a dog or cat, or recognizing whether a person is happy or sad, are
much more difficult for computers.
The phrase "artificial intelligence" was first used in reference to these tasks that are easy for humans
and difficult for machines at a computer science workshop in 1956. At the conclusion of the
workshop, the attendees devoted themselves to figuring out "how to make machines use language,
form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and improve
themselves."
To this day, AI researchers continue to work on the areas outlined by these early AI pioneers. Fields
like natural language processing, image recognition and machine learning have become
subspecialties within the overall category of AI. Artificial intelligence research has also expanded to
encompass other areas, such as social intelligence, creativity, autonomous vehicles,
recommendation engines and much more.
Machine Learning
Image: Pixabay
Machine learning is a subset of the larger artificial intelligence category. Going back to the proposal
from that first artificial intelligence workshop, machine learning is the part of artificial intelligence that
focuses on giving computers the ability to "improve themselves" over time as a result of experience.
An early computer scientist named Arthur Samuel explained that machine learning enables
computers "to learn without being explicitly programmed," and his machine learning definition is
frequently quoted.
Computer scientists have come up with a lot of different ways to help computers to learn. For
example, they might use supervised or unsupervised learning algorithms to help machines get better
at performing tasks over time. Today, we encounter machine learning every time we see a
recommendation engine like the ones at Amazon or Netflix that suggest products we might like to buy
or movies we might like to watch. Machine learning has also become an important part of big data
analytics tools used by enterprises.
Deep Learning
Image: Pixabay
Just like machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence, deep learning is a subset of machine
learning. Going back to that workshop definition, deep learning is the part of machine learning that
focuses on forming "abstractions and concepts." Deep learning systems ingest large quantities of
data and generalize categories and features related to that data through supervised or unsupervised
learning.
To understand how this works, consider the problem of teaching a computer to distinguish pictures of
cats from pictures of dogs. Programmers could try to come up with a set of rules that explains exactly
what a cat is and exactly what a dog is, but even though humans can easily distinguish a cat from a
dog, it's really hard to explain that difference using algorithms that a computer can understand.
However, a deep learning system can analyze a whole bunch of pictures of animals and come to its
own generalizations about what distinguishes a cat from a dog. While the cat-dog example is pretty
innocuous, this type of deep learning can also be very controversial, such as the deep learning
system that learned to distinguish whether people were gay or straight by looking at pictures of their
faces.
Deep learning systems rely on neural networks (which will be defined on a later slide) and GPUs.
Short for "graphical processing unit," a GPU is a computer chip that is especially good at processing
lots of data in parallel. They were originally designed to handle video and graphics (hence the name),
but they are also very good at big data processing and machine learning tasks.
Cognitive Computing
Image: Pixabay
Of all the terms in this slideshow, cognitive computing is the easiest to define. Essentially, it means
the same thing as artificial intelligence — it just isn't as scary.
Most of us have seen so many apocalyptic science fiction movies that feature frightening uses of
artificial intelligence that the term AI has acquired some negative connotations. To get around that
bad impression, marketing teams sometimes use the phrase "cognitive computing" to describe
products with AI capabilities. IBM, in particular, likes to use the phrase in reference to its Watson
platform. The term cognitive computing doesn't really have an agreed-upon scientific definition; it's
just a prettier way to say "artificial intelligence."
Neural Network
Image: Pixabay
Neural networks go by lots of different names: artificial neural network, neural net, deep neural net
and other similar terms. All those phrases describe the same thing — a computer system inspired by
living brains.
At that 1956 workshop where scientists first discussed artificial intelligence at length, the attendees
thought that "every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so
precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it." In fact, they thought it would be so
easy to create a machine model of a human brain that it would take 10 scientists just two months to
accomplish it.
That timeline was more than a little unrealistic, considering that researchers are still working on
creating computer brains that function like human brains. However, over the years, computer
scientists have made a lot of progress toward that goal. Today, neural networks, using nodes that are
roughly analogous to biological neurons, perform many tasks related to computer vision, speech
recognition, board game strategy and more.
Supervised and Unsupervised Learning
Image: Pixabay
Within machine learning and deep learning, there are several possible approaches to teaching
computers. Two of the most common are supervised and unsupervised learning.
With supervised learning, the computer has a "teacher," a human being (or several human beings)
that provides examples. In the cat-dog identification example we have been using, supervised
learning would require a person to label a bunch of pictures as either cats or dogs. The computer
would then learn from those sample inputs and outputs.
In unsupervised learning, the computer doesn't have any sample data. Instead, the system is asked
to find patterns in the data on its own. This technique is useful when looking for hidden insights in big
data.
Other common types of machine learning include semi-structured learning, where the system gets
partial sample data sets, and reinforcement learning, where the system gets rewards or punishments
based on how well it completes assigned tasks.
Algorithm
The dictionary definition for an algorithm is "a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or
other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer." In layman's terms, when we are talking
about algorithms, we are talking about processes, usually processes related to math.
When you were in third or fourth grade, you learned the algorithm for long division. You learned a
process that involved dividing, multiplying, subtracting and bringing down the next digit.
When we talk about algorithms for AI and machine learning, we're talking about the same kinds of
processes — just a lot more complex. For example, Google uses an algorithm (a process based on
rules) to determine which websites appear at the top of its search results. In machine learning,
systems use many different types of algorithms in order to achieve desired results. Common
examples include decision trees, clustering algorithms, classification algorithms or regression
algorithms.
Chatbot
Image: Pixabay
Also called a bot or an interactive agent, a chatbot is an artificial intelligence system that uses natural
language processing capabilities to carry on a conversation. Today, the most recognizable examples
of chatbots are Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa. However, many different
organizations are investing in chatbot technology, and many websites now feature chatbots that can
answer technical support questions, help guide customers through a sales process or interact with
customers in other ways.
Ideally, a chatbot would be able to answer customers questions as well as a human being could, but
so far, chatbot technology is falling short of that mark.
Data Mining
Image: Pixabay
Data mining is all about looking for patterns in a set of data. It identifies correlations and trends that
might otherwise go unnoticed. For example, if a data mining application were given Walmart's sales
data, it might discover that people in the South prefer certain brands of chips or that during the month
of October people will buy anything with "pumpkin spice" in the product name.
Data mining tools don't necessarily have to include machine learning or deep learning capabilities,
but today's most advanced data mining software generally does have these features built in.
Natural Language Processing
Image: Pixabay
Natural language processing is an area of artificial intelligence related to understanding and

generating speech the way humans usually use it. Computers have always been able to understand
programming languages, but understanding regular English or Chinese is much more complicated.
You have probably experienced the evolution of natural language processing with your own use of
search engines. In the early days of the Internet, users typed Boolean operators to help them search
for keywords. So if you were looking for a slideshow like this one, you might have typed "'artificial
intelligence' OR 'machine learning' AND 'terms'" into the search engine. Today, search engines have
much better natural language processing capabilities, so you can just type "What is artificial
intelligence?" to get a definition, as well as links to resources.
Predictive Analytics
Image: Pixabay
Today, nearly all companies are running analytics on their big data. Predictive analytics is a particular
type of analytics that seeks to tell users what's going to happen next. For example, you might feed a
predictive analytics system 10 years of sales data from your company and then ask it to forecast your
sales for next quarter given the current trends.
Today's predictive analytics systems usually incorporate data mining and machine learning
capabilities, and often can viewed as a step toward artificial intelligence. They rely on algorithms to
help them process data and determine likely future events.
Turing Test
Image: Pixabay
The Turing Test is named for its inventor, Alan Turing, an early computer scientist who theorized
extensively about artificial intelligence. He proposed a simple test to determine whether or not a
computer had achieved true artificial intelligence. A human interrogator would type questions, which
would then be given to a computer system and a human being. The computer and the human being
would then type responses. If the interrogator couldn't tell which response came from the computer
and which came from the person, the system would, in Turing's opinion, have attained artificial
intelligence.
In recent years, several AI systems have been said to have passed the Turing Test, but the results
have always been somewhat controversial. Some people question whether the Turing Test is really a
good way to evaluate artificial intelligence, but it remains influential in discussions about AI.
Cynthia Harvey is a freelance writer and editor based in the Detroit area. She has been covering the technology
industry for more than fifteen years. View Full Bio
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10/12/2017 InformationWeek - 12 Artiﬁcial Intelligence Terms You Need to Know

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Supervised and Unsupervised Learning

Natural Language Processing

Natural language processing is an area of artiﬁcial intelligence related to understanding and

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