The Basics of AI: What You Need to Know

Artificial intelligence is the buzzword of this decade, popping up in discussions about everything from healthcare to creative industries. But despite all the hype, there’s a lot of confusion about what AI actually is, how it works, and what it can do. As creatives and copywriters, understanding AI can help us make the most of its capabilities and alleviate some common fears. 

AI is Not as “Intelligent” as You Think

The first thing to know about AI is that it's not truly intelligent in the way we think of human intelligence. It doesn’t “think” or understand emotions, and it doesn’t have a consciousness. As George Westerman, a Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, says, “Artificial Intelligence is not intelligent. We need to be intelligent in how we use it.” This means that the real power lies in how we apply AI to solve problems, automate tasks, and enhance our work.

A Brief History: AI Is Old AF

Many people see AI as a modern development, but its roots go back to the 1940s. Early computer scientists were already imagining machines that could perform tasks typically reserved for humans. The term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined in 1956 by mathematician John McCarthy during a conference at Dartmouth College, marking the beginning of the field as we know it today.

From there, the journey has been anything but linear. AI has seen numerous “winters,” where progress stalled and enthusiasm and budgets waned, and “summers,” where breakthroughs generated excitement and renewed investment. 

Why the Recent AI Boom? It’s All About Data

So, why is AI suddenly a hot topic again? The answer is big data. Since the dawn of the internet, the amount of data available has exploded. We’re talking about an overwhelming collection of digital information: Wikipedia, consumer data, digitized books, weather data, transportation feedback, healthcare data, social media, and more. The internet has become a treasure trove of information that AI can learn from.

This abundance of data allows AI to make predictions, perform tasks, and even generate content in ways that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago. The more data AI has access to, the better it can “learn” and improve.

But much of that training data is filled with bias, from race and gender to politics. We cannot erase all of the hate speech, fake news, and repugnant opinions that fill the internet—that trains the AI. As creatives, the best we can do is proofread and examine everything before it goes live.