THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO A.I.

By Anna Makri & George Panagiotopoulos

“I’ll be back!” is an iconic catchphrase in movie history, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “The Terminator” is definitely one of the most recognized film franchises that feature an evil A.I. that tries to end all humanity. Whether good or bad, A.I. is always an elusive and futuristic subject that somehow finds a way to help us, or in most cases to take over earth and change life as we know it. One thing is for sure: A.I. is created by humans and is here to stay, taking part and having numerous roles and applications in our day to day activities like “Hey Siri”, or even more important ones, as Surgical or National Defense purposes.

First things first, what is A.I.? The definition given by Encyclopedia Britannica is “The ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings”.

Throughout the past decade, people have changed the way they perceive and associate this subject, so strap in and let the journey begin:

2011-2012 A.I. is starting to build up in people’s conversations worldwide, with 182K mentions on a monthly average. Movies are in the forefront of conversations, with people discussing and looking for related films in their attempt to learn more on the matter at hand. Religion comes also into play with the implications of the rise of A.I. affecting our notion of God. Lastly, self-driving cars are gaining in popularity with articles and theories of the practical applications of A.I. by the major car manufacturers.

2013 is all about Gaming. New developments in the usage of A.I. in gaming are the driver for conversations during this year with 278K mentions on average per month. New larger-scale multiplayer games are being massively developed and played globally and a strong A.I. is needed to support this expansion. Players start discussing on the behavior of the A.I. and how it affects their gaming patterns and ways they will counteract and overcame the new smarter “A.I. opponents”.

In 2014 A.I. started being associated with Neural Networks, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, and people begin to talk about the develop

ments in science and how these affect our lives. Super computers with human like cognitive abilities and decision making skills are the popular subject of conversations. Let’s not forget about Stephen Hawking’s warning that “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race” in his interview on BBC. The mentions are still on the rise with 283K mentions per month on average.

2015 is the establishing year for A.I. and people start expanding upon the main subjects and its transformation. Mentions show a minor decline reaching 260K mentions per month. Data Science comes also into play, with big data analysis using A.I. algorithms for easier and, most importantly, time- and speed-efficient analysis of Big Data sets. Moreover, conversations evolve around the transformation and evolution of science, in order to try and understand better what Artificial Intelligence is and how it came to be.

2016 stirs things up again. With A.I. being more and more used and discussed throughout, people return to the implications of A.I. and express their fear on how it can affect our work and our way of living overall. Main topics are job implications, end-of-days inspired theories, but also conversations in regards of how A.I. will benefit our everyday lives and help us with our business and economy or even on how A.I. programs can help us look younger. Mentions are spiking with 402K on a monthly average.

Healthcare, Medicine and Education related topics that are being transformed with the implementation and advancement of A.I. are in the center of conversations among people in 2017, with the “bright side” of the technological breakthroughs in the center. Mentions continue to rise, reaching on an average monthly basis the 667K mark.

Last but not least, 2018 is the year for another controversial issue that is intertwined with A.I.: BlockChain. Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS are just a few of the platforms and forms of cryptocurrencies that are present currently. A.I. being innovative and groundbreaking, was bound to be utilized in one of the most technologically advanced and complicated issues that are key in people interest. Mentions have reached their highest number to date, 833K on a monthly average.

2019 is still young but A.I. is definitely one of the hot topics throughout the year. Cyber-attacks and hacking prevention with the use of A.I. is for now the topic that monopolizes people’s interest and conversations.

To wrap up this journey through time and technology, A.I. is here and is expanding constantly. Only time will tell if in the long run we, as humans, can utilize and continue to use for our benefit A.I related applications. To paraphrase the famous quote from Douglas Adams’ masterpiece “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”:

“The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is A.I.”

Note: The above research and analysis has been performed with XPLAIN’s proprietary A.I. tools and algorithms.