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Unit 1 – Introduction to AI

Part A - What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

AI is the technology that enables computers or machines to simulate human intelligence. AI enables
computers or machines to communicate by human language, form concepts, self-learn and self-improve, as
well as simulate human logic to solve problems. With the continuous advancement of technology, AI is
rapidly developing in many ways.

We need AI to help us manage in an increasingly demanding, highly complex world. AI can automate certain
tasks to save manpower and potentially increase productivity and accuracy. However, the capabilities of AI
are sometimes exaggerated. To truly understand AI, we need to know what it can and cannot do.

For example, AI can play chess, generate news reports, predict the needs of customers, process human
languages, create poems, and more. At the same time, however, AI in its current state cannot make moral
judgments, have empathy, feel emotions, or exercise free will.

Task 1: Human Intelligence Versus AI

We are all familiar with the game Rock-Paper-Scissors. We can also teach an AI algorithm to play this game
with a human. In this game, the two players need to form one of three hand gestures simultaneously and the
outcome of the game depends on certain rules between chosen hand gestures. AI can play this game by
recognising the gesture of the human player using a camera and choosing a gesture that wins this gesture.

Figure 1.1: Rock-Paper-Scissors

Before the game starts, in step 1, AI needs to collect data of images of the gestures for “rock”, “paper” and
“scissors”. In step 2, a model is trained to classify any image as one of these three gestures. In step 3, human
can show any hand gesture to the camera. AI will recognize this gesture and choose a gesture that wins this
gesture from the human player.

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Please click on the link below or scan the QR code to see how to build an AI
system to simulate human intelligence.
Training AI to play “Rock-paper-scissors” with humans

1.1 Basic Concepts of AI

The field of AI emerged in the 1950s. AI technologies used to be based on rules designed by humans. The
technologies continue to evolve over the decades. In recent years, we see accelerated developments in AI due
to the availability of big data, powerful and affordable computing and the Internet, together with advanced
machine learning algorithms (especially deep learning).

Figure 1.2: The history of AI

In the previous paragraph, we mentioned the term machine learning and the term deep learning. Machine
learning is a subfield of AI, with the aim to automatically “learn” models from data and use these models to
perform tasks which requires “intelligence”. Deep learning is a subfield of machine learning, with the aim of
using a kind of algorithm known as artificial neural networks to “learn” models from data. The neural
networks have many layers and therefore they are described as “deep”. People frequently use the term “AI”
to refer to machine learning or deep learning, because recent advancements in machine learning with deep
neural networks has made it one of the most popular approaches in AI.

Figure 1.3: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning

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Task 2: AI or Not AI?

Identify which of the following applications HAVE or HAVE NOT incorporated AI technologies, and
briefly explain why.

Figure 1.4: Which applications have incorporated AI technologies? And which ones have not?

AI Technologies?
Reason(s)
(✓/✗)
✗ Not applied in normal security checkpoints with X-ray and human
(e.g.) or operators.
A ✓ or
Applied in the new security checkpoint machines, which employs
computer vision technologies for object detection.

B X
RFID tags use radio waves to transmit ID information to RFID readers.
calculator
by logical gates It
Calculations scientific
by are executed . is a human
C X
a

machine used of
operated
only for mathematics. (with the exception programmabla
D v Computer vision technologies are used in self-driving to recognise cars

barriers/signals during driving.

used to understand
E
v
Natural
language processing technologies are user

inputs d generate
recommender
an
responses
recommendation
to the
which
user
.
recommend based
Song is a
system can
songs
F
~ On the user's interaction
history
.

G
~ computer techniques used to detect faces in
vision are
images .

H
X A SD printer is conceptually like an inkjet printer
but it
prints out 3D 3D printers interface
objects .
can

with Al , and the two

technologies
can work
together.11
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Task 3: AI and Common Functionalities (optional)

Suggest the features or functions that ARE/ARE NOT applications of AI:
Features or functions that ARE Features or functions that are NOT
applications of AI applications of AI

E-commerce

Smart phones

Social networking
websites

Robots

1.2 Does AI Always Work as Expected?

Task 4: Limitations of AI
While AI can help humans solve many problems and make our daily lives more convenient, related
technologies have their limitations. AI technologies sometimes do not work as expected!

For each example in the table below, describe how AI may not work as expected and explain the possible
reason(s).

Examples Facial Recognition System Chatbot

Limitations of AI
Failure of that chatbot in providing
Failure human face
in
recognizing a the with appropriate
user an

.
response

Possible reasons for

Theuser's input is too compe
a

limitations
Dark environment user's needs information
The
regest
that is
beyond the knowledge
(i e out

requestem
of the , an
.

scope
of- domain

confused by hairstyles ,
hats ,
glasses etc
,
.

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Learning Summary for Part A

 What is AI?
AI refers to the technologies that enable computers or machines to simulate human intelligence.
 Some aspects of AI:
AI enables computers or machines to communicate with human language, form concepts, self-learn and
self-improve, as well as simulate human logic in solving problems. With continuous technological
advancements, AI is rapidly developing in many ways.
 Does AI always work as expected?
No. AI technologies are not fool-proof, and we must be aware of their limitations.

Part B – Empowering Basis of AI

In recent years, AI has made exciting progress as many applications have improved their abilities to solve
problems. Big data supports machine learning algorithms to train AI models with a massive number of
examples. Cloud computing provides fast and powerful computing resources to support model training of AI
systems. Advances in algorithms have also made machine learning much more powerful. Figure 1.5 shows
how AI is supported by big data, machine learning and cloud computing to perform many tasks, such as
making decisions in classification and predictions. These can be widely applied to computer vision, computer
speech, machine reasoning and other functions.

Figure 1.5: Empowering basis of AI

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Figure 1.6: Process of machine learning

Machine learning is a branch of AI that studies how computer systems can learn from data to perform tasks
which require intelligence. By enabling computers to learn from data, machine learning systems can carry
out complex processes automatically, rather than following pre-programmed rules.

Figure 1.6 shows the process of machine learning. The training dataset contains many data samples. Each
sample consists of an input and its correct label for a specific task. The data samples are fed into the model
to generate an output label. The output label will be compared with the reference (correct label) to see if the
generated output is correct or not. If there is an error, then the algorithm will learn to reduce the error by
updating the model and this training continues until an optimal model (M*) with minimum error is obtained.
We can use this trained model to process new input data (that the model has not seen before).

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Task 5: AI Used in Customer Service Chatbot

Identify the three components (big data, machine learning, and cloud computing) of AI used in a customer
service chatbot of the mobile application of a transportation system.

Figure 1.7: Customer service chatbot

Components of AI Functions

User inquiries on route-planning (including users’ questions and

expected answers).

Computational resources that support data processing and machine

learning in training an AI model, as well as applying it to new data.

The AI model is often a neural network that can generate an

appropriate output response for a given input user query.

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Task 6: AI Used in Recommendation Functions

Explain the three components (big data, machine learning, and cloud computing) of AI used to make
recommendations on online streaming services/platforms.

Figure 1.8: Recommendation functions

Components of AI Functions

Big data

Machine learning

Cloud computing

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Learning Summary for Part B

The definition of AI is the ability of computers and machines to simulate the natural intelligence of humans.
AI today is empowered by big data, machine learning and cloud computing, and the technologies will continue
to evolve.
 Big data – Massive amounts of data and information that can be used for AI model training and testing.
 Machine learning – Algorithms that produce models for input processing and output generation, which
enable the AI system to learn and improve automatically from data processing. This produces a trained
model that can be used to perform tasks on new data that it has never been seen before.
 Cloud computing – Computational resources to support AI technologies.

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