As the power of computers grew, researchers worked on AI programming languages and machines that learned to solve problems without being programmed. The 1980s marked a turning point in the development of AI, with companies understanding how they could leverage the technology to save money and make better decisions.
AI breakthroughs are now transforming the world and redefining what we think of as intelligence. AI can perform tasks at a scale and speed beyond human capacity, freeing people to focus on higher value work. It can also enhance our abilities, helping us see new opportunities and respond to crises faster.
In medicine, for example, the ability of AI to identify patterns in medical images and data has cut the time it takes to diagnose conditions from weeks to hours. It is also improving patient care, reducing wait times and freeing doctors to spend more time with patients.
Recent advancements in deep learning have enabled AI systems to understand and learn from images, videos and text. Image and speech recognition software now has human-like accuracy, revolutionizing fields like media, security and accessibility. Language models such as GPT-3 by OpenAI can generate human-like text and create ideas from nothing – from essays to articles and poems, generating search terms or even designing children’s birthday parties.
Other examples include Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which can determine the three-dimensional structure of a protein in minutes where it once took years. And GraphCast, which can predict cyclone paths and floods more accurately than conventional forecasting models.