This week I want to continue the discussion of Artificial Intelligence, posing the difficult question of what AI, by definition, actually is.
The artificial element of artificial intelligence is reasonably clear in that the intelligence is artificially rather than biologically created. Programmers were involved in developing software code thereby creating the Artificial Intelligence solution. AI doesn’t arise out of biological evolutionary processes, although it might be possible to suggest that the ongoing development of AI solutions might be evolutionary.
But what about “intelligence”?
What is intelligence? There are differing definitions of intelligence. A google search yields a definition from Oxford Languages which refers to “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills”. It would appear clear that an AI solution can acquire knowledge in the form of the data it ingests and in the statistical processing which allows it to infer new knowledge. We have also seen robotic AI solutions which have learned physical skills like the ability to walk. So, from this definition it appears that these solutions may show intelligence. That said, does the AI comprehend the meaning of the text it outputs in response to a prompt? Does it feel a sense of success, and are feelings and emotions a part of intelligence? And does it “acquire” this knowledge or is it simply fed it by its designers and users? Does it also choose what to acquire and what outcomes it wants or does it just do only as its programmed?
Evolutionary intelligence?
Another definition for intelligence, which has a more evolutionary bias, states that “Intelligence can be defined as the ability to solve complex problems or make decisions with outcomes benefiting the actor”. This links to Darwinism and the survival of the fittest in the benefit towards the actor. It may be that current AI solutions can solve complex problems, such as identification of patterns and anomalies in huge data sets, however it is also possible to evidence where AI solutions fail at simple tasks we humans find easy, such as object recognition and spatial awareness. As to the actions of the AI benefiting the actor, if we assume the actor is the AI itself, I am not sure we can evidence this. How does the AI benefit from completing the task it is set to? I suppose we could argue that the AI is completing a task for a user and that the user is the actor receiving benefit, or we could suggest that by benefiting the user, the AI as actor is more likely to continue to see use and develop which could be considered an act of self-preservation. But is the AI conscious of benefit? Does it even need to be conscious of benefit? Is it conscious of a need for self-preservation? But then again are we humans conscious of our own need for self-preservation or the personal gains which may motivate us towards seeming selfless acts?
Mimicry
The issue here for me is that I am not sure we are clear on what we mean by artificial intelligence in that the term intelligence is unclear and may mean different things to different people. I suspect the term AI is adopted in that AI solutions are able to mimic average human behaviours, such as being able to respond to an email based on its content, being able to analyse data and suggest findings or being able to create a piece of artwork based on the work of others. We just substitute “mimic some human behaviours” for “intelligence”. In each case the AI solution may be quicker than we humans or may produce better outputs, based on the averaging of all the training data an AI has been exposed to. In each case, and due to the training data, the outputs may be subject to inaccuracy and bias; And maybe this may support the use of the term intelligence in the inaccuracy and bias we display as humans being so clearly mimicked by the AI we create.
A task focus
Looking at the definition of “artificial intelligence” in its entirety, Oxford Reference refers to “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages”. This definition, of tasks normally requiring humans seems to fit given without AI it is for humans to respond to emails, create artwork, etc. So maybe AI is simply a system which can mimic humans in terms of its ability to complete a given task and produce a favourable output.
Conclusion
I think it is important we acknowledge the vagueness of AI as a term. But then again AI is simply a subset of different types of intelligence including biologically developed as well as human created Intelligence. And if we struggle in creating a consistently adopted definition for intelligence, it is therefore of little surprise that our definition of AI is no less vague. But maybe this is all semantics and the focus should simply be on developing solutions which can carry out tasks previously limited to humans, and by extension human intelligence.
Considering human intelligence one last time, we need to remember that a child may show intelligence in speaking its first words, or learning to stand, meanwhile an adult explaining chaos theory or performing an orchestral piece will also be showing intelligence. That’s a fairly large range of intelligences. And it is likely with AI, the range of intelligences will be equally broad with our current AI solutions, including generative AI, being near the infant side of the continuum.
Before finishing I also need to raise the challenge in relation to mimicry of human efforts to complete tasks, where AI may mimic our behaviours all to well. It shows bias, a lot like humans do. It also states with confidence facts that are either untrue or have limited supporting evidence, much like humans do. It is subject to exterior influence though its inputs and training data, again much like humans, and it creates “original” works based on the works of others but without a clear ability to reference all that which it has learned and based its outputs on, again exactly like we humans. This all represents a challenge where I see people trying to hold AI solutions to a standard that we humans would find difficult or even impossible to achieve.
For now, I think we need to accept the vague definition of AI and for me this is a system which can complete tasks which would normally require some form of human intelligence, where inherently this system also tends to mimic some of the drawbacks of the human intelligence it seeks to copy. Its not perfect but it will do for now.
References:
https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+intelligence
Artificial intelligence – Oxford Reference
Q&A – What Is Intelligence? (hopkinsmedicine.org)
Technology and Learning