Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to high-level computer systems capable of reproducing certain characteristics of human intelligence.
Current AI is far from imitating, let alone recreating, human intelligence. For now, it manages to complete very specific cognitive tasks.
Deep learning
Programmers in the AI field use various methods to get their machines to do something like "learn and improve.”
The first and most common method of AI knowledge acquisition is deep learning.
That mode of training requires the AI to be programmed in such a way that it can read, compare and analyze vast quantities of data and recognize the patterns that emerge from it in order to "create" new elements.
Deep Blue et al
A famous AI prototype was called DeepBlue. In 1997, it became the first computer to beat a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) at chess.
Like Deep Blue, some AI is designed to analyze all possible moves in a game with specific rules. In other cases, it will access a huge databank of poems, for example, and learn how a poem “should” be written.
In those ways, AI can achieve impressive results in niche domains.
Expert systems
Expert systems are a less common learning mode for AI.
The programmers’ objective in this case is to recreate the reasoning of an expert in a field of activity such as medicine or forest engineering.
Starting with a logical reasoning structure, AI can try to solve problems related to the field in question and, who knows, maybe even invent something.
Watson, another famous AI development by IBM, uses databases of medical symptoms to make more accurate diagnoses than those of human physicians. To do this, it learns a way of thinking that attempts to mimic that of doctors.
How is intellectual property affected by AI?
Artificial intelligence is already making its impact felt in terms of intellectual property (IP):
- AI itself can be subject to copyright or patent protection
- AI can create copyrighted works or patent-protected objects
- IA assists authors, artists and inventors in their creative processes
- IA can enforce the rights of copyrighted works, detecting infringement for example
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