Collaboration assignment:

Artificial intelligence

Arthur Blondeel – Sacha Barbieaux – Jens

Ryde – Paulien Van Acker – Fran Wens
Table of Contents
Questions................................................................................................................................................. 2
Will artificial intelligence eventually become a danger for humans, will computers overpower the
human brain and what will happen to our jobs? ................................................................................ 2
why this question? .......................................................................................................................... 2
Answer to the question ................................................................................................................... 2
Articles found .................................................................................................................................. 3
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Will artificial intelligence be able to have a conscious? ...................................................................... 4
why this question? .......................................................................................................................... 4
Answer to the question ................................................................................................................... 4
Articles found .................................................................................................................................. 5
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 5
What are the applications for artificial intelligence? .......................................................................... 6
why this question? .......................................................................................................................... 6
Answer to the question ................................................................................................................... 6
Articles found .................................................................................................................................. 7
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Bibliography............................................................................................................................................. 8
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Reflection ................................................................................................................................................ 9

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Questions

Will artificial intelligence eventually become a danger for humans, will computers
overpower the human brain and what will happen to our jobs?

why this question?

We chose this question, because this is probably the question that everyone asks themselves when it
comes to artificial intelligence. AI is becoming more and more important nowadays. Every day, there
are developments that improve AI and we believe that artificial intelligence will shape the world of
tomorrow. So, we acknowledge the growing importance of AI, but we need to think about the dangers
that come forth from artificial intelligence and whether they will overthrow the human brain in the
future. We thought this was an interesting question to ask, because of its impact on the world.

Answer to the question

Ever since the early days, various writers and filmmakers fantasized about robots and computers living
next to people and interacting with us. This is no longer a fantasy. Algorithms can teach themselves
how to play video games an even win from the best chess player in the world. And of course, the
algorithm never gets distracted or tired and remains focused. Their choices also do not get influenced
by feelings or emotions. Things that are not the case with humans. Scientist say that within a decade,
AI will be able to replicate specific human tasks and that will of course, change society in its whole. Siri
is only the beginning. Things like Driverless cars will become the new standard and daily human
interactions like going grocery shopping or the going in the office will be dominated by artificial
intelligence. When transitioning to a society like this, it will be under severe stress to deal with the
problems of unemployment and maybe even more important: growing inequality.
However, as far as overpowering the
human brain, we’re not just there yet.
Experts all agree that humans still
exceed in general intelligence,
creativity and understanding of the
world. We have some qualities like
basic instincts, common sense and
maybe most important of all, years of
experience. Going a bit more in detail
on the aspect of labour and the current
jobs, this will definitely change a lot
when AI keeps evolving. As we
mentioned before, within some years,
artificial intelligence, will be able to
drive a car. However, it goes beyond only replacing a driver. Analysists think that within 15 years, AI
will also be able to replace soldiers, work in the factory, running our financial services, translating and
interpreting texts, and so on. They estimate that by 2030, around 40% of jobs will be gone. These are
severe figures, but Alison Lowndes, head of AI developer relations at technology company Nvidia
contradicts this statement, by saying that this has always happened. She says that a data analyst job,
didn’t exist 10 years ago, let alone five years ago. She also stresses the fact that in order for this to be
postponed or maybe avoided, people should re-train, they should keep expanding their knowledge
and apply the term life-long learning. She ends her statement, with a nice saying. ‘Jobs we have now
might vanish, but jobs themselves won’t vanish.’ (Hudson , 2017). This quote brings us to our next
aspect. We also believe that jobs will disappear, replaced by AI, but because of that, new necessities
will arise and new jobs will exist.

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Of course, most of these jobs will be related to artificial intelligence itself. For example, the
maintenance of AI or development of AI, assisting artificial intelligence and so on. On this picture, you
can see the Pepper robot. This robot can
be used in fields such as healthcare,
technology, education and retail. Even
though there are solutions for the
disappearing jobs, they still need to arise.
Nowadays and in a couple of years, the
commercial sector will be in jeopardy due
to AI and its robotic automation.
Some even say that for every job created
by robotic automation, several more will
be eliminated entirely. This kind of
contradicts what our other sources said,
but then again they also say that this will mostly impact the lower-skilled people. (Shewan , 2017). So,
if it would teach you any lesson, it would be to keep on developing yourself, continue learning and
don’t underestimate the power of knowledge. Maybe this way, we could keep up with them a bit
longer. You can see that there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding this topic and it will remain this
way, until it’s actually happening. No one can predict the future and even though you can analyse facts
and make estimations, there is no certainty of them being correct. Certainly in the world of artificial
intelligence, where everything is still uncertain to begin with.

Articles found
We have found multiple articles on this topic. All of them stating what we have said in our answer
above. There was one on the website of scientific America and one on the website Time. Both the
articles talk about whether it would be possible that artificial intelligence will surpass human
intelligence and the consequences of that happening for example in the work field. On the actual
consequence, AI would have on the work field and on our jobs, we also found multiple arguments. One
our sources, being the guardian and metro. These two are very nice to compare, because on some
levels and aspects, they contradict each other and so like we mentioned in the report, this clearly
confirms the already existing uncertainty.

Conclusion
We think that there is a chance in the future, but not the near one, that artificial intelligence will
surpass human intelligence. The speed at which this is currently evolving is enormous and it won’t
slow down, so it would become very difficult for us to keep up. Like mentioned above, there are
however some ways to slow it down a little bit. These are life-long learning and constant development
of yourself. We also do believe that jobs will disappears, but that in the end, things will get balanced
again and we will just learn to live with it, adapt to it and prepare ourselves for the next big thing to
come.

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Will artificial intelligence be able to have a conscious?

why this question?

We chose this question because we wanted to have an idea as to how far artificial intelligence is
already developed and what will change in the future. Asking ourselves if AI would be able to have a
conscious and the consequences of this, was the perfect opportunity to do research and to find out.

Answer to the question

AI having a conscious would be the next step. developing from cars who can drive themselves to a
machine that is aware of its surroundings, maybe have the ability to clean and cook and even could
become man's best friend when no one would be around.
Of course, this development would cause some trouble
with the legal aspect of it all, because if artificial
intelligence would have a conscious, do we define it as a
person who is bound by law and can be punished when
committing a crime? or just as a machine, but then again
regulations would be necessary as well. And what about
the worst-case scenario where robots take over the
world? There is still no certainty that this could be
possible, but we can’t really control the speed at which
technology is developing. (The conversation , 2017)
There has already been conducted a lot of research on
this and there is even a separate term for a conscious
artificial intelligence, which is called artificial
consciousness. we can divide AC into five main
necessities for it to be real. the first one is awareness. This on its own, creates a lot of difficulties. It
includes reacting to the information received through senses or imagination. This would mean that
they would have to create a model of the physical world, someone’s internal processes and other
conscious entities. You can see how this could slow down the process of realizing AC. The next aspect
is memory. This one wouldn’t be as hard as the previous one, because it has already been developed
in the AI machines we know today, so not a real challenge there. The third necessity is learning. Bernard
Baars, a scientist who is the co-founder of the association for the scientific study of consciousness. He
also considers this necessary for AC, which seems normal because all we do is constantly improving
our knowledge, we are constantly learning. Next on
the already long list of necessities, anticipation. The
ability to predict foreseeable events is deemed
important by some scientists. Anticipation includes
predicting the consequences of one’s actions and of
actions by other entities. And then the last
significant aspect is subjective experience. this is
considered to be the biggest problem of AC. Besides
these five, there are a lot more things needed, but
these were the main necessities. (Wikipedia , 2018)
If it were to come true and we are finally at the moment that machines are conscious of their
surroundings and so on, then they would for example know what they are seeing or hearing, they could
express confidence in it, report about this to others and they could even suffer hallucinations when its
monitoring mechanisms break down. We would finally know what it’s like to be a robot.
(Cuthbertson , 2017). However, we have no way of knowing this for certain and it could very well be
possible that consciousness is fundamentally physiological and that we can’t stimulate it artificially.
(Strickland, 2010)

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Articles found
For this question, we found an article on the website of the conversation about whether AI will have a
conscious yes or no. The article discusses some necessary elements, if this were to come true. Another
article we found was on the website of Wikipedia, on the page of artificial intelligence. There is already
an entire paragraph devoted to the possibility of AI having a conscious and what is needed for this to
come true, because it would be more difficult than it seems.

Conclusion
Again, this is a scenario that we have to take into account, because before artificial intelligence would
be able to surpass human intelligence, we know that it will most certainly already have developed a
conscious. Thinking about the legal consequences of this, is also very interesting. No one knows what
will happen, but we all know that regulations are necessary.

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What are the applications for artificial intelligence?

why this question?

We chose this question, to get a better idea for what artificial intelligence is used nowadays and what
the possibilities are in the different work industries. Also checking the true purpose of artificial
intelligence, we tried to get an answer to this question.
Answer to the question
The applications of AI are endless. It will make the average life of a human being easier and safer.
Today we are starting to see how AI is affecting us. From Siri en Alexa to a smart fridge and tv. But
those applications are just the start. AI will help make the roads a safer place by driving your car and
communicating with the cars around you.
(Adams, 2017) (Apple, s.d.)
Artificial intelligence is active in almost every
single industry. From aviation to
transportation. Basically, they are present in
nearly any industry you can think of.
Marketing, media, finance, HR, medicine, …
(Wikipedia, 2018) and if we import AI to a
mechanical body it will perform human like
tasks. The applications are endless, because it
is made to replicate the human brain.

What can AI bring to the marketing sector

The most used AI implemented system in our opinion is Google, because of the fact that we all use it.
Google uses a smart search of AI software that is embedded in the search platform and imagery
recognition. You can upload an image and google will recognise it. Google is also known for its AdWords
platform where they offer targeted advertising to third parties. This platform uses AI for their
advertising targeting and matching adds to your latest search words.
ASOS is a company that uses
imaginary recognition to
makes the shopping
experience a lot easier. I will
give you an example, let's say
you are walking on the street
and you see a cute dress, you
can take a photo of that dress
with an Asos application and
ASOS will analyse the picture
and search for a similar dress
in their online assortment.
On the picture, you can see
how this would work.
(Arthur , 2017) You can already see the use of AI and how easy this makes life as we know it. By the
way, how do you think Netflix knows what shows you would like to watch and recommend you new
movies and tv shows? Well, that is all thanks to artificial intelligence. Their technology, analyses billions
of records just to suggest you films you might like based on your previous reactions and choice of
movies. (Adams, 2017)

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Another important aspect if we speak about the applications of artificial intelligence, is quantum
computing. But what is it exactly?
Quantum computing follows the studies of
The Quantum Theory. Quantum computers
operate at an atomic and subatomic level
and can both be one and a zero at the same
time. The laws of nature are therefore
different than a standard computer which is
a one or a zero. By following the laws of
quantum physics, we can boost the
processing power of a computer a billion
fold. (Rouse, 2010)

When looking at the forecasting revenues we can determine that AI will have a huge impact on future
civilization. It is still growing at an extraordinary rate, making the average life easier. There won't be a
limit it the accomplishments of AI. The performance will grow every day and solve one problem at a
time. It will search the galaxy of habitable planets and help human battle cancer. (Armstrong, 2016)

Articles found
We have found a lot of different sources on the applications of AI. All of them giving us valuable
examples and explaining the different applications for AI. Forbes has been very useful, because it
structured their examples very nicely, making it clear for us to distinguish all the applications. We also
found a nice article solely on quantum computing, together with a graph from the know statistics
website Statista.

Conclusion
AI has a lot of possibilities and will be used in our daily lives more and more every time. The possibilities
are endless and everyone of us, will need to adapt to this new lifestyle. It’s the next evolution in our
lives and it will become very important to get acquainted with it and in time, also use it.

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Bibliography
Adams, R. (2017, January 10). 10 Powerful examples of artificial intelligence in use today. Retrieved
from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/01/10/10-powerful-
examples-of-artificial-intelligence-in-use-today/#687dd1aa420d
Apple. (s.d.). "Hey Siri, wake me up at 7 AM tomorrow". Retrieved from Apple :
https://www.apple.com/ios/siri/
Armstrong, M. (2016, November 18). The future of AI . Retrieved from Statista:
https://www.statista.com/chart/6810/the-future-of-ai/
Arthur , R. (2017, August 10). Fashion site ASOS launches visual search tool to aid inspiration and
discovery for shoppers . Retrieved from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelarthur/2017/08/10/asos-visual-search/#12bf833c2b32
Cuthbertson , A. (2017, November 4 ). Can machines be conscious? Scientists say robot can be self-
aware, just like humans. Retrieved from Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/can-
machines-be-conscious-robots-consciousness-humans-ai-singularity-699436
Hudson , A. (2017, May 10). '40% of jobs' taken by robots by 2030 but AI companies say they're here
to help. Retrieved from Metro: https://metro.co.uk/2017/05/10/40-of-jobs-taken-by-robots-
by-2030-but-ai-companies-say-theyre-here-to-help-6628469/
Koch, C. (2015, September 1). Will artificial intelligence surpass our own? . Retrieved from Scientific
American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-artificial-intelligence-surpass-
our-own/
Rejcek, P. (2018, March 1). In the future, there will be no limit to what AI can accomplish in science.
Retrieved from Singularity hub: https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/01/in-the-future-there-
will-be-no-limit-to-what-ai-can-accomplish-in-
science/#sm.00000hs80mli4mf8gw975ytbjtbhm
Rouse, M. (2010, August). Quantum-computing. Retrieved from What is tech target:
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/quantum-computing
Shewan , D. (2017, January 11). Robots will destroy our jobs - and we're not ready for it. Retrieved
from The guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/11/robots-jobs-
employees-artificial-intelligence
Strickland, J. (2010, March 22). Could computers and robots become conscious? If so, what happens
then? . Retrieved from How stuff works: https://science.howstuffworks.com/robot-
computer-conscious.htm
The conversation . (2017, December 8). Will artificial intelligence become conscious? . Retrieved from
The conversation : https://theconversation.com/will-artificial-intelligence-become-
conscious-87231
Time. (s.d.). computers smarter than humans? Retrieved from Time:
http://time.com/4960778/computers-smarter-than-humans/
Wikipedia . (2017, August 24). Bernard Baars. Retrieved from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Baars
Wikipedia . (2018, May 14). Artificial consciousness . Retrieved from Wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_consciousness
Wikipedia. (2018, May 16). Applications of artificial intelligence . Retrieved from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_artificial_intelligence

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Conclusion
I think artificial intelligence is becoming more and more important and we definitely should take this
into account. That’s why I also like this topic of research, because now I finally know something
about it. However, after our research it still scares me a bit. We still don’t know everything artificial
intelligence is capable of and how it will evolve. Also, the typical doom scenario of robots taking over
the world, is still in my head. Of course, that can also be due to the fact that I like science fiction
movies and I should try to distinguish fantasy from reality. It will be nevertheless very exciting to see
how this will evolve and what the future has to offer.

Reflection
This groupwork didn’t went as smoothly as I thought it would. Finding the questions and doing
research about it was quite easy and fun, but bringing all this research together in a report, was a bit
more difficult. Tasks weren’t really divided equally and that gave a bit of stress. Nonetheless, I still
liked this assignment, because it definitely created some awareness about artificial intelligence and its
possibilities.