COLUMNIST – RESOURCES
Is AI in your life? Ashish Kumar This can occur either through misunderstanding, or as a consequence of the complexity and amount of the resulting code, or from failure to anticipate and test every potential input and verify the outcome.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a wideranging branch of computer science that is concerned with creating and maintaining smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. The
You can be sure that the number of bugs rises in direct proportion to the number of lines of code!
purpose of intelligence in AI is to make a person’s
Errors are often the by-product of the design and
places while keeping humans safe.
specification process. For example, consider the following process
life better, improve productivity, relieve people from mundane tasks, streamline and optimise business operations, and reach the remote and dangerous
Should I use Artificial Intelligence? Most of us are already utilising the benefits of AI in
1. A user performs an action A 2. The application returns and response B.
our daily lives. Such examples include, but are not limited to, Siri and Alexa, spam filters, the Netflix recommendation system, etc.
3. The user then does C 4. The application responds with D.
What are the four types of Artificial Intelligence? ■ Reactive machines
What happens if a user tries to do C before A? Will it still return D after C? Or will it return B? Or something else? Will it crash the application?
■ Limited memory ■ Theory of mind
Suppose nobody considered this possibility when the
■ Self-awareness
software was being discussed, developed or tested.
■ So, how does this affect me?
When it is discovered later having caused an error, you have a ‘new’ bug! Bugs can lie in your system for a long time – even years before they surface. A line of code may only be executed when a very particular set of circumstances arise, such as a leap year, or when an input includes a very specific set of values in a particular order – or both! At other times a design decision or feature can become a bug!
The future of AI is something that is hotly debated among scientists and the public. Some people are optimistic about the benefits it can bring to society while others are concerned about the possible negative impacts. However, it is no doubt that whatever the case, AI will ultimately become a huge part of life for us all, whether we know it or not. Does this mean I should be using a bespoke AI in my business? One of the greatest questions when it comes to
Undercover bugs In the early years of computing, memory was expensive. Developers decided they could save memory by using just 2 digits to store the year in all dates. However, as we approached the year 2000, there was concern about a worldwide computer meltdown caused by what became known as the Millennium Bug, where computers would get ‘confused’ about the meaning of the 2-digit year: would ’20’ mean 1920, or 2020?
integrating the latest technology trends into our own businesses is “Should I be doing this?”. The answer, as always, lies in what you want from AI. In conclusion… AI is revolutionary and will only become a more prominent feature in our lives as time goes on. It’s worth looking into AI and seeing how you can make the most of the technology. So watch the space on this…
In a similar way, your software developers may decide to make certain choices for your application that are harmless or pragmatic now but could
Web Alliance
become a bug later. 0800 677 1786 ashish@web-alliance.co.uk web-alliance.co.uk
