Ever notice how much we use AI around our daily lives and may not even realise it? Think about it, We wake up in the morning and I (Like I am sure many of us do) log ontomy laptop. We may search something on Google which uses a Spider to gather websites online based on a predefinied algorithim which I would consider AI because it has to rank/collect pages based on certain criteria which the Spider and other Algorithms Google use on thier website.

Then we Answer the phone from one of those damn robocallers who are asking for your support on a cause, campaign, or maybe you just “Won a trip to the Carribian.” Then we may ask Siri (or Android counterparts like Iris and Skyvi) about the weather and the scores of last nights game. Maybe even some of us have a self adjusting thermostat, which I must say look pretty awesome. Maybe after that we play some Xbox, using the Kinect voice commands to Navigate the menus, which could be considered small Aritifical Intelligence, or maybe not, all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Then you have to go meet your Boyfriend/Girlfriend at the brand new fancy restauraunt that just opened downtown. Your Boyfriend/Girlfriend only gave you the address so you have to use that new GPS system you just got for Christmas which, given only an address, uses the GPS satillites and internal programs to determain how far you need to drive, when you need to turn, alternative route, ETC. And all presenting that with its “Voice” as it talks you through the directions.

Now whether you agree or not that some of these are in fact AI entities (leaving out the obivous chatbots and focusing more on an “average” user) it is undeniable that AI is indeed becoming more and more preminent and indeed important in world. Look at WebMD (the king of self diagnosis) listing only a few symptoms it can come up with a range of symptoms and illnesses from a large database of them. Needless to say that whether you like it or not, life is in fact becoming more reliant on AI for everyday things. Look at the computer programs that are created to come up with business stratigies for large corporations. Now whether this is good or not could be argued both ways. From video games, to websites, to cars and even relationships (Dating sites and other sites that match candidates based on certain criteria could be considered AI in a sense) AI is becoming very prominent in the world and half the time a lot of people don’t even notice.

This is just an interesting observation and I would love to have people discuss this further. Heck I don’t even know if half the things I listed could be considered AI, but I do consider them to be… but what to I know I’m just a crazy kid who loves robots

And yet we’re just doing the same things we used to do, except we used to turn on the radio, look at the clouds, look things up in books, send letters by mail, get calls from callcenter employees, and navigate using street maps. The reason we are becoming more dependant on AI is because we are slowly doing away with the old systems.

I haven’t seen any “true” AI, as far as I understand the definition.  Mostly, I see Artificial Intelligence Emulators.  It’s that Wizard of Oz thing with the real intelligence being performed behind the curtain.  My feeling is that AI would be able to find a cure for cancer or tell us where in the cosmos to look for life.  Not only to sort items, but to actually come to a conclusion and give a reliable answer.

You’ll probably never see Dating site reply, “After careful consideration, we’ve come to the conclusion that there is no match for you.”

Thunder Walk - Jan 12, 2014:

You’ll probably never see Dating site reply, “After careful consideration, we’ve come to the conclusion that there is no match for you.”

I think it’s more likely that said dating site would say, “After careful review of your profile, we’ve come to the conclusion that you’ve lied on your application.”

Humans develop tools to made “work” easier. Doing more work per person allows further tool advancements to develop- it is the classic exponential (insert your Singularity here).

Machines from steam engines, internal combustion engines, vacuum tube transistors to SS transistors and even the modern pocket machines (‘computers’/’cell phones’)- are just tools.  Computers are just machines. They are tools- not “intelligent” any more than a car is “intelligent” when it tells you (either via a buzzer, light, or audio) that you forgot to buckle your seat belt, or a tire has low pressure.  Some person has designed the machine to do those functions.

Google is fundamentally just another human made tool- albeit made by very smart and hugely technologically enabled humans.

Where is AI?  All around.  It is HAI (Human Artificial Intelligence). We are living in the golden age of gadgets.  But there is no magic here, no non human interventions.  It may seem like an “intelligent hand” is at work when we get some unexpected,/surprising/pleasing/eerie results, but it is just a result of tools being used to assemble and present something for us.

Is there is fact really ANY de novo non-human (Machine) Intelligence- certainly none is yet demonstrable.

Not yet, at least.

But, as any student of history can tell you- it is not the machines themselves that we should be truly concerned about, but the humans that wield them.

Case in point- while often deridded as “paranoid delusions”, the Snowden Doc Dump reveals that even the most fevered Alex Jone diatribe on Survallaince may be understating the full scope of the way the Global Information Grid is actually being used to… [***TAO INTERCEPT***REMAINING TEXT REDACTED***NATIONAL SECURITY PROTOCOL***]

The machines and computers and agents are all around us but are they truly intelligent? That depends upon your definition of intelligent and I’m sure your mileage might probably vary from mine or the next person’s view.

There are programs that can write better programs than themselves and suggest faster, more powerful alternatives. Intelligent? Probably not…just carrying out some programmed code.
Asimo? nope…again…someone’s program at work.

We often think of something as being intelligent when it makes an “informed” decision when given the cohice between two or more selections but that really doesn’t make them intelligent.

Watson? As powerfully as it trampled those two puny humans, it was still only guided by programming and is not contemplating world domination!

We toy and experiment (and I mean toy in a devoted hobbiest way), with chatbots, NLP and Speech and home control software that accepts vocal commands yet, we are only being amused by our own cleverness.

As of yet, we are not gods…we have created nothing new despite our most enthusiastic hopes. We are still human…for now.

BUT…the day IS coming when we will likely get a full measured dose of our ‘thoughtful’ and well meaning programs.

There will be programs that enable the computers to react and “think” (carry out computational decisions) by orders of magnitude faster than our fastest super computers. These computers that we allow to control every facet of our lives will suddenly have our lives in it’s digital hands. Unless we humans build in some safeguards, it may decide that
we are really not necessary for them to carry out their tasks.

Artificial for now…but who’s counting?

Time will tell….

While I agree with you that no program today is particularly intelligent in any meaningful sense, I’m not entirely sure what you’re using the word ‘programming’ to mean in this context. Do you mind clarifying?

Programming simply refers to the instructional code written by humans that enables computers or robots to carry out a task.

At some places and especially in the future, we will see computers with the ability to modify and write more efficient code than humans. They will become sort of ‘self updating’ devices.

Currently I am reading, “Our Final Invention” - by James Barrat. I find the book extremely informative, enlightening and insightful.