Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

At its very basic level, artificial intelligence is a kind of machine learning. Once fed  enormous amounts of data, it can use that information to recognize patterns, and to make decisions or predictions very quickly. It can automatically adjust and improve its responses based on new information, so it appears to be "intelligent” in that sense. For most of us, like other forms of technology, A.I. is a tool, like an online dictionary, calculator, or spell checker.

The big name in A.I.—or more accurately a Large Language Model or LLM—currently is ChatGPT, which can interpret and respond to human prompts with surprising speed and accuracy. ChatGPT is easy to use partly because it is conversational. Like a back-and-forth exchange with a friend or relative, ChatGPT can “remember” previous aspects of your conversation and generate a response that makes sense contextually (Watson & Eaton, 2023). (This “remembering” is also problematic in terms of privacy and security of personal information, as in anything entered into an A.I. tool is stored and integrated as data that informs other people’s interaction with it.) Although fairly easy to use, ChatGPT cannot necessarily generate up-to-date or personalized responses. In fact, some of the information generated contains factual errors, and perpetuates stereotypes and biases contained in the training data (TeachOnline.ca, 2023).