Artificial intelligence (AI) involves the creation and application of computer systems with cognitive capabilities, and in the particular the development of machine learning.

As I discuss in my book Digital Genesis, over the next five-to-ten years AI is likely to transform many aspects of our personal and business activity. Not least this will occur as AI facilitates the development of new computing and organizational interfaces, allows the improved processing of Big Data, and enables the roll-out of autonomous vehicles and many other automated machines.

You can learn about the basics of AI in this video:

The publications referred to in the above video are available free online as follows:

• Alan Turning's paper "Computing Machinery And Intelligence"
• Claud Shannon's paper: "Programming a Computer for Playing Chess"
• Frank Rosenblatt's report "The Perceptron: A Perceiving and Recognizing Automation"

CLOUD AI SERVICES

Today, one of the biggest trends in AI is its delivery from the cloud. Only a few years ago, to employ AI you had to have a significant level of AI expertise. But roll forward to today, and AI has become a commodity service that can be plugged-in to most businesses, products, websites and other services by anybody with a modicum of technical proficiency.

For example, Google now offers Cloud AI that can be used to "inject AI into your business", while IBM markets Watson as the "AI platform for business". Meanwhile, Microsoft offers its growing suite of Azure Cognitive Services that allow individauls and organizations to infuse their "apps, websites and bots with intelligent algorithms to see, hear, speak, understand and interpret".

Also in on the cloud AI services act is Amazon whose Artificial Intelligence on AWS offers "powerful machine learning for all developers and data scientists". Over the past year, publically accessible, cloud-based generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffision have also captured a lot of attention. And indeed I demonstate how to use ChatGTP to write Python code in this video.

Cloud AI services are an absolutely critical development that are already democratizing access to AI, and which nobody with an interest in the future of computing or business ought to ignore. You can learn more in my Cloud AI Services video.

DIGITAL ASSISTANTS

In the public eye, one of the greatest signals of the emerging Cognitive Computing Age is the arrival of digital assistants including Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana, and Apple's Siri. These can increasingly be accessed from "smart speakers" -- including Amazon's Echo range, Google's Home range, and the TMall Genie from Alibaba -- that are in turn facilitating "attentive computing" and omnipresent computing environments.

Cloud-based digital assistants can now also be accessed from DIY hardware projects that a use an SBC like a Raspberry Pi. You can watch me experimenting with the possibilities in the following videos:

• Raspberry Pi AI: Pycroft Voice Assistant
• Google AIY Voice Kit
• Google AIY Voice GPIO Voice Control
• Alexa AI on Raspberry Pi

You can also find more ExplainingComputers AI videos on this page.