Artificial Intelligence Is Already Among Us

Technology is developing so fast that I won't risk making predictions even for the near future. Even for a period of five years, any prediction would be just guessing, since the dynamics of changes may be underestimated, says Hristo Tomov, founder and one of the main partners at Dreamix, who is currently leading the company's artificial intelligence direction. In 10 years, probably there will be no professional drivers. And what it will be like in 50 years is impossible to imagine. Every area of life will be affected by the changes that the emergence of artificial intelligence will cause. It will be of good help to humans, and will penetrate everywhere where processes are routine. The interesting part of the work will remain for the people, Hristo Tomov believes.

What Is This

Artificial intelligence is a software that demonstrates characteristics of intelligent behavior. At this point of its development, it's still not as universal as human intelligence. It is created for a certain task and is specialized in its implementation. Machine learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence; when a computer is provided with data, ML must extract the knowledge of how to handle it on its own. It is given examples on the basis of which it grasps the models, summarises the information and makes conclusions. For example, on the basis of the history of diseases of a certain hospital, it can diagnose patients. At the same time, it can absorb new information related to the same task by extracting knowledge from it. But if it has to switch to a completely new task, a new approach and a new architecture must be developed, Hristo Tomov explains.

Driver of Change

Machine learning is a direction with huge potential and ever increasing practical application. The next great breakthroughs in its development are about to follow. The progress achieved in the field of artificial intelligence in recent years is due not so much to new achievements in theory, but to the advance in computing power. Geoffrey Hinton, who published one of the first works in the field of backpropagation in 1986, and since then is at the core of the development of artificial intelligence, said recently that for a substantial progress from now on, entirely new methods will be needed, and the future may depend on any student who looks with a critical eye on everything done so far.

Application

Artificial intelligence is suitable for automating complex repetitive tasks. There is some fear that many people will be out of job because of artificial intelligence. However, it will eliminate an entire position in just a few cases. In legal counseling, for example, it will handle routine processes, and probably, one day, fewer layers will be needed, but their profession will not disappear. It will also be used for diagnosis of human diseases, but the need of physicians will remain. Among the professions that are the least threatened by the entry of artificial intelligence are activities that require specific technical qualification. That is why plumbers will remain indispensable for a long time.

The emergence of quantum computers, however, will turn reality upside down. All existing prognoses may prove valid only until the quantum revolution. But it won't happen all at once, Hristo Tomov assures. For example, one of Dreamix's projects that used artificial intelligence was targeting the insurance sector and aimed to improve risk management and detection of fraud. The artificial intelligence filtered information and found certain dependencies. What is more, until recently, Dreamix worked with a US company from the Silicon valley on the development of a virtual personal car assisstant that can perform verbal commands - from the music that the driver wants to listen to, to booking a table in a restaurant. It warns you if there is not enough fuel in the tank, and can recommend a favourite petrol station for loading. Their latest development is related to the use of drones with artificial intelligence for monitoring electricity transmission networks.

Efficiency

Artificial intelligence hides huge opportunities. The technology is good in the automatic processing of large data sets - for example, surveys. It has its advantages in solving a large number of optimisation tasks. Dreamix are also working on projects related to the Industrial Internet of Things. A lot of information from the sensory accumulation of data is gathered in the industry, and its processing is quite complicated. Production planning is complex and artificial intelligence will replace many people in this endeavour by making the process much more effective.

Where Are We

Bulgaria is following the global trend in the development of artificial intelligence and we are neighter well ahead, nor lagging behind. The topic is becoming more current, but practical tasks are one thing, and fundamental research - quite another. Both directions must be developed in parallel although the business sector is more willing to finance solution that are ready to use. If we want to be at the crest of this wave, the inclusion process should start from education. Knowledge is given, but students don't appreciate its importance until they are not confronted with its practical application.

People

There are two directions in the development of artificial intelligence that are related to people - the first one is the training of the people that will create and develop the artificial intelligence, and the second one is the retraining of the workforce that will remain without a job as a result of its entry. The training may begin from preschool with the use of game methods. The thing that will save people when artificial intelligence enters our world is flexibility of reaction. If they get used to learning quickly and adapt, to team work and comunication, they will be affraid of nothing. If this approach is integrated in the educational system, it will be useful for the people of the new age. There will be many "turns" because of the development in technology, and people must be prepared to accept them without being stressed.