There’s nothing artificial about this intelligence

After spending a weekend in Tokyo learning about Artificial Intelligence, my entire perspective changed. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I was a sceptic when I walked into the plane for the overnight flight. I went determined to ask probing questions in support of my presupposition that machines can only do what man tells them and that they’re void of emotion.

Simply defined, AI, as it is commonly referred to, is machine intelligence. According to Russel and Novig, computer scientists known for their contributions to AI, “An ideal ‘intelligent’ machine is a flexible rational agent that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximise its chance of success at some goal.”

In effect, it’s a machine acting like a human. Yet there is a big difference between the machine and man. The machine is much better at interpreting complex data and continually learning.

Have you ever forgotten something? Perhaps even moments after attempting to learn it?

It is difficult for the human mind to recall every bit of information it has been exposed to. The machine doesn’t forget and is able use everything previously known to get smarter in each future interaction. I wish I could remember everything that I’ve learned. I can only image how much smarter I’d be today.

I had lots of questions when I landed in Tokyo. I wasn’t doubting the machines’ ability to process more information, faster than we can. Supercomputing can do that.

But I thought it could only do what man told it to do. Similar to telling a dog to sit, fetch and heel, the computer would only do what I told it to do.

In the realm of AI, the machine takes its initial guidance from the man, but then begins to anticipate, to predict what will happen, and acts ahead of time. It’s like my dog Clark, who anticipates each morning that I’ll walk down the steps to head to my study to write. So, he comes to the bottom of the steps, sits and waits for me.

I never taught him to do this. I only taught him to sit. He learned the rest.

What converted me to the coming impact of AI — and it’s going to transform the way we work and live — were the real-life examples. Amazon’s autonomous flying delivery drones are so last year.

Yet here in the region we’re still trying to decide what a digital transformation means. I fear by the time we decide; we’ll be trying to be digital in a machine world.

An example of AI is Amazon’s anticipatory shipping. They’re beginning to predict what you’re going to order and to ship it to you before you buy it. This is about helping people find products in their precise moment of need — and perhaps before they even perceive the need — whether or not they’re logged in or ready to click a “buy” button.

Prediction is the core behind the AI change. The machine learns from user habits and picks up on behavioural and environmental patterns to predict what will happen next, even before it does. By accessing data from everyday interactions, its able to predict specific opportunities.

Machine learning is long past forecasting demand and setting prices. When the machine mimics human cognitive functions, such as learning, problem-solving and even selling in some instances, it outperforms the human equivalent.

A leading insurance company is relying on the machine to sell insurance policies because it closes two times the number of sales as a human salesman does. An additional example of AI outperforming is in facial recognition systems; it is twice as good at matching a face with the picture on a passport.

I find it intriguing that Warren Buffet is an investor in both IBM with its AI solution, Watson, and Geico Insurance that has been very public in its usage of AI. Obviously, this sage investor sees the coming impact.

But this made me wonder, “Why is man so average comparatively and what can we do about it?” Is it time to allow the machine to augment those short-comings?

When I stepped on to the plane for the overnight flight back to Dubai, I’d gone from sceptic to cheerleader.

The writer is a CEO coach and author of “Leadership Dubai Style”. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com