Has "AI" replaced "software"?

Amarnath S

A couple of days back, I attended a presentation where a high-school mathematics teacher was explaining the features of a software which allocates teachers from a pool to each student who registers for their online learning platform. She frequently said "The AI does this", "The AI does that", "The AI has this feature", and so on. Whereas I felt that there seemed to be no AI element in it. It was just a standard algorithm which was implemented. Maybe she felt that all software is AI. Have you come across situations where people use the term "AI" to signify routine software?

den2k88

Amarnath S wrote:

Have you come across situations where people use the term "AI" to signify routine software?

95% of the time. To be honest, what's now referred as AI once upon a time was referred as "Expert System", which was software anyway. AI, today, is a buzz word in the real world and a plot device in fiction. A self-"learning" system is still software, it just expands on its ruleset based on the previous version of said ruleset.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

5teveH

In answer to "Has AI replaced software?": Nope. AI is software.

Amarnath S wrote:

Have you come across situations where people use the term "AI" to signify routine software?

Yes, everyone seems to be claiming it's "AI" these days. Very annoying! :wtf: But, maybe, not quite as annoying as Dyson claiming his vacuum cleaners have "Digital Motors" and not once, (EVER!) saying what this is and why it might be better!!!

den2k88

5teveH wrote:

what this is

The motor PWM is controlled directly by the microcontroller instead of an analog power controller piloted via a DAC.

5teveH wrote:

why it might be better

Pros: + One less component that can break + Better chance of power control in case of overcurrents (shouldn't catch fire or burn out when encountering obstructions) Cons: - Harder to repair (when the MCU breaks it's game over). - Pray the firmware is well written: if it hangs, expect anything.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

Slacker007

Sander made a very good point in a weekly survey a while back. Survey Results - How important is learning AI to you for job security?[^] We have not seen true AI yet. What we are seeing is Machine Learning, if anything. So, it is completely inaccurate for anyone to use AI in marketing, etc. as that is a false statement. AI sounds cooler than Machine Learning, and the general public does not know any better. Real, true AI (if possible some day) is scary shit, and should not be messed with -- that, IMHO, is the darkest of magick.

glennPattonPub

'Expert System' haven't heard that since I was doing A Level Computing... Many moons ago...

NeverJustHere

Everyone loves the latest buzzword bandwagon. I've heard simple regression analysis called AI. Loved questioning a sales guys on that in a product presentation. Me: So how does it do... Him: It's an advanced AI Me: I need to know what's behind it. Is it a neural network? Him: It's complicated, it's.. Me: Is it a neural network. Him: No, but we could use one, if it proved better Me: So is it using a classification algorithm? Him: It's a proprietary... Me: Is it as simple as ARIMA? Him: What it does is take the data and... Me: We're not prepared to buy something we don't understand and that you can't explain. Him: Maybe (the tech girl who hadn't said a word yet) can explain Her: It's mostly a regression model that... Me; Regression, like Gauss documented in the very early 1800's. Whats the rest of it. Her: Arithmetic.

DerekT P

Let's hope that girl got a decent cut of the commission! :laugh:

Greg Utas

What commission?! :laugh:

Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

Greg Utas

Quote:

Maybe she felt that all software is AI.

Arthur C. Clarke's observation about sufficiently advanced technology and magic might explain it.

Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

Sander Rossel

Amarnath S wrote:

Have you come across situations where people use the term "AI" to signify routine software?

Only always. I recently explained why in this post: Survey Results - How important is learning AI to you for job security?[^]

Sander Rossel wrote:

It's all Machine Learning, finding patterns in big enough data sets. That's not intelligence, that's statistics that are too big for humans to do.

It's ML, or an algorithm, but it's never "intelligence".

Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

jsc42

Slacker007 wrote:

We have not seen true AI yet

True AI is what they do to cows to ensure the pedigree of their calves, see for example https://ie.meridianfarmersmarket.org/1129-rules-and-techniques-for-artificial-insemination-of-c.html#:~:text=Artificial%20insemination%20of%20cows%20is%20a%20mandatory%20activity,of%20a%20bull%20and%20to%20qualitatively%20prepare%20animals.[^]