IS TERMINATOR BECOMING A REALITY?
Cornerstone managing director Chris Petty - or is it Terminator?
Cornerstone managing
director Chris Petty asks
where artificial intelligence
will take us next
August 29, 1997; 2:14am. Skynet, an artificial
intelligence, becomes self-aware after just
25 days of being “alive”. What follows next is
a war the like of which the world has never
seen.
Terminator (1985), one of the best science
fiction films, leads us to think that in the
future computers – or artificial intelligence
- might take over the world. In the movie
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the year
Skynet took over was 1997 - 20 years ago.
So where are we now with artificial
intelligence?
With Christmas upon us, we naturally start
looking for gifts for our loved ones. Some of
the best gifts this year are the techie gifts of
virtual assistants like Amazon Echo, Google
Home and Apple Homepod.
With our new phones, we already have
virtual assistants in our pockets with Siri,
Bixby and Cortana, while Facebook is
releasing M through its messenger app.
Whilst many of us are loving this tech at
home, advances in artificial intelligence mean
AI is becoming increasingly useful in the
world of business too.
In fact, we’ve barely scratched the surface
of what virtual assistants can do.
But, as machine learning and AI advance
more broadly, it won’t be long before these
assistants can interpret complex requests,
predict what their owners will need and
integrate fully with all smart devices.
An AI-driven personal assistant named
Amy Ingram is a computer programme
that helps eliminate the back-and-forth
email exchanges that come with arranging
meetings. It talks to customers or clients to
fit a meeting into an available date in your
calendar.
Such is its level of realism that many
clients believe that they’re talking to a
real PA. They’ve even sent it flowers and
chocolates!
Many small and medium-sized enterprise
tasks, such as customer support and
processing claims, can already be automated
by using AI.
Experts estimate there’ll be a staggering
annual growth rate in such technology of
37% over the next seven years.
Such growth suggests a huge number of
us are keen to ask our devices for a weather
forecast, read our unopened emails, reply to
a text message, play songs or even perform
a rap for us.
And, thanks to Terminator, if artificial
intelligence does start a war in an attempt to
take over the world, at least we know how to
deal with it. Simply toss it into a pit of molten
metal. Hasta la vista, baby!
CH607- L
Best IT Services Company
Northeast England
180mm