How did AI evolve to this stage?

Despite their brief history, computers and AI have fundamentally changed what we see, what we know, and what we do.

Little is as important for the future of the world, and our own lives, as how this history continues.

_{– Max Roser}

 

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) didn’t happen overnight. It has a vibrant history.

Please scroll through the timeline below to see the various points of its evolution.

Before we go too deep into AI,  a useful glossary of terms can be found here.  ^{(Link opens in a new tab)} 

So unless you’re living under a rock you must have noticed that the digital world has changed dramatically. This becomes clearer as you notice how even recent computer technology feels ancient these days. Not long ago in the ’90s cell phones were the size of bricks. In this short time, computers and devices have evolved so quickly and have become such deep-routed parts of our daily lives that it’s easy to forget how new this technology is. Only about eight decades ago were the first digital computers invented.

Computers and AI have changed our world immensely, but we are still in the early stages of this history. Because this technology feels so familiar, it is easy to forget that all of these technologies we interact with are very recent innovations and that the most profound changes are yet to come.¹

Below is a great brief introductory video  ^{(Link opens in a new tab)}  from Duke University that will help to familiarize you with some of the AI that you may already be using.

Artificial intelligence has already changed what we see, what we know, and what we do. This is even though this technology has had only a brief history. There are no signs that these trends are hitting any limits anytime soon. On the contrary, particularly over the last decade, the fundamental trends have accelerated: investments in AI technology have rapidly increased, ^{(Link opens in a new tab)} and the doubling time of training computation has shortened to just six months.²

Generative AI (GenAI) is a type of artificial intelligence that specializes in generating new content such as music, text or images. Unlike other AI models that are designed for classification or prediction tasks, GenAI aims to produce unique outputs that resemble human-created content. This technology is capable of creating original and creative outputs.

It offers users a wide range of outputs, providing diverse and unique results. This enables the creation of new and unexpected content, expanding the spectrum of possibilities. With continuous training and fine-tuning its performance and output quality will lead to improved results.

GenAI uses unsupervised learning methods to learn from datasets that are unlabeled and have no predefined outcomes. By identifying patterns within the data, the model generates content. This approach does not require any specific target or goal to be set beforehand. In simpler terms, GenAI learns on its own and creates content based on what it has learned from the data. Overall, generative AI represents a significant advancement in the field of artificial intelligence, offering endless possibilities for creative applications and innovation.

All major technological innovations lead to a range of positive and negative consequences. This is already true of artificial intelligence. As this technology becomes more and more powerful, we should expect its impact to become greater still.