April 19, 2022

Maya Puterman

9th Grade

Ramaz Upper School

The term AI stands for artificial intelligence. AI refers to the ability of smart machines to perform human tasks that would normally require human intelligence. In 1950, Alan Turing, a mathematician, posed the question: “Can machines think?” His question led to his subsequent writing of a paper designed to explore this idea and determine whether or not a computer possesses the qualities to be characterized as “intelligent.” 

The term “Artificial Intelligence” was first coined in 1956 by an American computer scientist named Paul McCarthy at the Dartmouth Conference. He defined AI as “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines.” Though we aren’t always cognizant of it, we use AI daily for our own benefit. Common examples of AI in our lives include smart devices such as ….

• Siri, Alexa, and other smart assistants, with AI, process and understand what we are saying and then use it to generate a response.

• Self-driving cars also use AI software to simulate human decision-making processes by autonomously controlling the actions of the driver.

• The chatbots found on most websites today use AI to interact with customers in the same manner a human would, through the use of automated programs.

There are four types of artificial intelligence: Reactive Machines, Limited Memory, Theory of Mind, and Self-Awareness. Reactive AI is the simplest type of AI. It refers to machines that can only react to the current situation. A reactive machine can only perform a limited number of tasks with the data which it was originally programmed with. A reactive machine has no memory and cannot learn from past experiences and build on its knowledge. Examples of machines that use reactive AI include Deep Blue (IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer), spam filters (for our email), and the Netflix recommendation engine.

Limited Memory AI is more advanced and offers greater possibilities than reactive machines. Limited Memory AI can both analyze and utilize new data. It can learn from past experiences and expand its knowledge. However, machines that use this type of AI are only capable of temporary memory. For example, self-driving cars use Limited Memory AI.

Theory of Mind AI refers to emotionally intelligent machines. This type of AI has not yet been developed. Theory of Mind AI will theoretically allow for machines to achieve decision-making capabilities that are very similar to humans. Additionally, it will allow machines to have the ability to read, understand, and interact with humans based on their emotions.

The last and most advanced type of AI is Self-Aware AI. Machines with this type of AI will be capable of having their own emotions and will have a level of intelligence that is similar to that of humans. Again, being such an advanced concept, this type of AI has not yet been developed.

Paige.AI, a company using AI to detect cancer within the human body, partnered with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an institution for cancer treatment and research, to assist pathologists in more efficiently diagnosing cancer in their patients. AI is currently being used to automate the process of detecting cancer, which would usually take pathologists a very long time to do.

The Paige.AI ng software requires lots of data from previous biopsies (samples of body tissue removed to be closely examined by a pathologist) to function. Paige.AI uses digitized scans of the biopsies from patients where either cancer was found or was not found to be trained to identify cancer in future biopsies. This technology could revolutionize the cancer industry and help suffering patients combat cancer.