The world of Artificial Intelligence encompasses many disciplines: science, mathematics, engineering, robotics.However, if we focus solely on Computer Science, we can easily divide the developments in Artificial Intelligence into three main groups: Machine Learning, Cognitive Services and Virtual Assistants. In our new blog post, we delve deeper into these innovative subsets of AI.
Machine Learning. With the objective to create systems that learn automatically through massive data analysis and ensure machines can make decisions with limited human intervention, Machine learning allows for complex patterns to be identified. Machine learning is in fact not new, but it has been developed overtime. It came from the idea years ago that machines could perhaps learn without being programmed to perform specific tasks. Thanks to this intricate service, we can acquire past data and recognize problems in them, so we can solve them in future projects. Applying Machine Learning in the analysis of application usage data can improve user experience, thus offering a better service the more the product is used. It becomes more optimized over time. Here’s some examples you might recognise;
- Facebook timeline uses machine learning to customize posts shown to each member, based on the number of interactions, clicks and sharing that user participates in.
- Netflix recommending online offers and what to watch
- Googles self-driving car
- Knowing what clients are saying about you on Twitter…all thanks to Machine Learning.
Cognitive Services. Cognitive Services are pre-made, ready-to-use Machine Learning services that allow applications, websites and bots to incorporate cognitive characteristics of a human being into their services. These services allow the bot to see, hear, speak and understand the client as naturally as possible, as a real person would. In this way, communication is simpler and more natural and helps to recognize and interpret the needs of users. This is possible thanks to self-teaching algorithms that use visual recognition, data mining and natural language processing, for example;
Visual recognition which makes it possible to identify what is in an image or a video. The application can then offer recommendations or even make decisions.
Natural language processing is the ability for computers to recognize clients moods and understand sentences. They can tell if the client is angry, happy, confused and so on, and learns to reason with the client and find what they are looking for.
Virtual Assistants (or ChatBots). This technology has been on everyones lips lately. With the arrival of innovations such as Google Home and Alexa, Artificial Intelligence is no longer out of reach and is available for anyone willing to let it into their home. Virtual assistants have both Machine Learning technology and Cognitive Services technology which allows interaction with the user through natural language, so they are easy to use. Thanks to the opportunity of personalisation, these tools are able to provide a large number of services with just your voice i.e. calling someone, playing a song, searching the internet for something, setting an alarm…something we could only have imagined a few years ago, has become a reality for everyday use!
