‘Intelligence’ is defined as: the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. In turn, ‘knowledge’ is defined as; facts, information and skills acquired through experience or education and skill is defined as; the ability to do something well. Continuing, a ‘fact’ is described as; a thing that is known or proved to be true, while ‘information’ is described as; facts provided or learned about something.
If the above was written as a mathematical equation and then simplified, intelligence is surely; truth applied well. Let’s expand the equation to include the meaning of ‘artificial’ as; made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural. Thus, we arrive at ‘truth applied well by humans’.
To be honest, if I take a high-level view of the AI I have explored to date, fifty per cent would be better described ‘lies applied badly by machines’, machines being a proxy for humans.
In my mind, the secret to AI’s future revolves around truth—what it is, where it comes from and how to find it. Truth is described as ‘in accordance with reality’, while reality is described as ‘the state of things as they actually exist’. The question is who decides what exists? Answers range from religion and courts of law, to the scientific process and an individual’s opinion.
Looking at just two of the above, there are plenty of miscarriages of justice and the scientific process exists to be proven wrong. Once we get a handle on truth, I will have a much better handle on what comes next for AI.