Artificial Intelligence in simple English
Published: 06:05 PM,May 06,2024 | EDITED : 08:05 PM,May 06,2024
Almost every place you go, see, speak with or even experience, has an Artificial Intelligence mention, tag, element, component or even inclusion around it in one way or another. The two recent conferences I attended, one in Spain (for the Mobile World Congress) and the other in Dubai (for the Global Information Security Conference) , both themes revolved around Artificial Intelligence.
The words Artificial Intelligence (also known as AI) may sound gibberish to some yet may many pretend to understand it all, but only to limit it to a new technological advancement that is only seen in the movies. Believe it or not, Artificial Intelligence is real, and you may be, in one way or another, interacting with it (most probably) in almost every area of your life, in every couple of minutes, even when are asleep (no thanks to wearable technologies). My article this week (as I promised last week) is to simplify the definition so as illustrate to you some practical and personal use cases of the same.
So what is Artificial Intelligence anyways? Quite simply, a smart device/computer that is given (fed into with) right data as a form of information to act, make decisions, and solve real-world problems without humans intervention.
These computers learn from the vast information (a.k.a. Big data, something I will also write about in the near future) that it gets from the various systems that generates these data on a periodic basis, for instance, the smart devices and wearables (watch, glass, phone, TV, refrigerators, metering system etc).
In brief, think of AI as machines that behave (act) more like humans. Artificially intelligent machines can remember behaviour patterns and adapt their responses to conform to those behaviours. Scary eh? Yes I know and I will write in the near future a complete article on how these systems will penetrate not just business but every facet of our personal lives (yes, it has both positive and negative implications too).
Now that you have a basic understanding of the AI, lets look at some of the real-world and practical applications and usage of AI. Gone were the days where you would depend on a printed map or direction in order to commute from one place, state or a country to another. Using digital maps (e.g. Google maps) on your phone, you can easily find where to go, which route to take and the best way to arrive/reach your destination (again thanks to AI powering the same, behind the scenes).
The search you do (be it for movies, books, music, etc) online and the suggestions along with personalisation you get as an an outcome/result is again powered by AI. The chatbot you use to communicate with some companies customer service departments are powered by AI. The ChatGPT that everyone seems to be talking about lately is also powered by AI. Other leading technology solutions providers around the world have too jumped the bandwagon to introduce their own AI solutions (that are competitive too). Everything you talk to and interact with, will be powered by AI.
The content you see and the kind of information you receive via your social media and network accounts and feeds are powered by AI.
The digital assistant (like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft Cortona or Amazon Echo) that you may be using on your phone or even in the car are powered by AI.
All interactions you have with them are fully managed by AI (yes not from a human, but via a smart computer). When you enter into some of the offices, some CCTV cameras and access control systems actually identify who you are (facial recognition and bio-metric technology) powered by AI. Obviously, there are many use-cases but I hope you have a basic idea of what an Artificial Intelligence is, how it works and how it also impacts you and everything around you, personally.
What is Oman doing in as far as AI is concerned? AI action plan, which was unveiled in Oman on August 2022, seeks secure a place for the country among the world’s top 40 AI-ready countries within 2 years. Target for 2024 is to improve Oman’s ranking in the Global AI readiness index.
We are today ranked 53rd out of 180 countries. Goal is to be in the top 40 by 2025. The Ministry of Transportation, Communication and Information Technology (MTCIT) has attracted investments worth RO 30 million in the field of AI in 2023, as a result of growing number of AI startups in the country.
The government is actively working with academic institutions to launch AI industry programmes and increase AI-related research papers. This year itself, the Ministry of Economy approved and allocated the budget of RO 15 million for AI projects. Oman’s KPI for AI include increasing AI investment in the country, increase startups and stimulate research and innovation in AI.
To conclude, I would like to emphasise that AI powers almost everything today and will do so tomorrow, be it voice assistants on your mobile phone, smartwatch, TV etc to personalised recommendations you get via streaming media services (e.g Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime, ShahidTV, etc), to books you browse (via Amazon), to music you download via Apple & Spotify and the likes.
In the near future, self-driving (autonomous) cars will too be powered by AI. The sky is surely not the limit. Until we catch up again next week, stay positive and be safe.
The words Artificial Intelligence (also known as AI) may sound gibberish to some yet may many pretend to understand it all, but only to limit it to a new technological advancement that is only seen in the movies. Believe it or not, Artificial Intelligence is real, and you may be, in one way or another, interacting with it (most probably) in almost every area of your life, in every couple of minutes, even when are asleep (no thanks to wearable technologies). My article this week (as I promised last week) is to simplify the definition so as illustrate to you some practical and personal use cases of the same.
So what is Artificial Intelligence anyways? Quite simply, a smart device/computer that is given (fed into with) right data as a form of information to act, make decisions, and solve real-world problems without humans intervention.
These computers learn from the vast information (a.k.a. Big data, something I will also write about in the near future) that it gets from the various systems that generates these data on a periodic basis, for instance, the smart devices and wearables (watch, glass, phone, TV, refrigerators, metering system etc).
In brief, think of AI as machines that behave (act) more like humans. Artificially intelligent machines can remember behaviour patterns and adapt their responses to conform to those behaviours. Scary eh? Yes I know and I will write in the near future a complete article on how these systems will penetrate not just business but every facet of our personal lives (yes, it has both positive and negative implications too).
Now that you have a basic understanding of the AI, lets look at some of the real-world and practical applications and usage of AI. Gone were the days where you would depend on a printed map or direction in order to commute from one place, state or a country to another. Using digital maps (e.g. Google maps) on your phone, you can easily find where to go, which route to take and the best way to arrive/reach your destination (again thanks to AI powering the same, behind the scenes).
The search you do (be it for movies, books, music, etc) online and the suggestions along with personalisation you get as an an outcome/result is again powered by AI. The chatbot you use to communicate with some companies customer service departments are powered by AI. The ChatGPT that everyone seems to be talking about lately is also powered by AI. Other leading technology solutions providers around the world have too jumped the bandwagon to introduce their own AI solutions (that are competitive too). Everything you talk to and interact with, will be powered by AI.
The content you see and the kind of information you receive via your social media and network accounts and feeds are powered by AI.
The digital assistant (like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft Cortona or Amazon Echo) that you may be using on your phone or even in the car are powered by AI.
All interactions you have with them are fully managed by AI (yes not from a human, but via a smart computer). When you enter into some of the offices, some CCTV cameras and access control systems actually identify who you are (facial recognition and bio-metric technology) powered by AI. Obviously, there are many use-cases but I hope you have a basic idea of what an Artificial Intelligence is, how it works and how it also impacts you and everything around you, personally.
What is Oman doing in as far as AI is concerned? AI action plan, which was unveiled in Oman on August 2022, seeks secure a place for the country among the world’s top 40 AI-ready countries within 2 years. Target for 2024 is to improve Oman’s ranking in the Global AI readiness index.
We are today ranked 53rd out of 180 countries. Goal is to be in the top 40 by 2025. The Ministry of Transportation, Communication and Information Technology (MTCIT) has attracted investments worth RO 30 million in the field of AI in 2023, as a result of growing number of AI startups in the country.
The government is actively working with academic institutions to launch AI industry programmes and increase AI-related research papers. This year itself, the Ministry of Economy approved and allocated the budget of RO 15 million for AI projects. Oman’s KPI for AI include increasing AI investment in the country, increase startups and stimulate research and innovation in AI.
To conclude, I would like to emphasise that AI powers almost everything today and will do so tomorrow, be it voice assistants on your mobile phone, smartwatch, TV etc to personalised recommendations you get via streaming media services (e.g Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime, ShahidTV, etc), to books you browse (via Amazon), to music you download via Apple & Spotify and the likes.
In the near future, self-driving (autonomous) cars will too be powered by AI. The sky is surely not the limit. Until we catch up again next week, stay positive and be safe.