Dr. Mashiur Rahman

Engineering Manager

Digital Healthcare Specialist

Photographer

Happy & humble human

Dr. Mashiur Rahman

Engineering Manager

Digital Healthcare Specialist

Photographer

Happy & humble human

Blog Post

Digital Assistant: A New Lens on Artificial Intelligence

April 8, 2023 Article, Technology
Digital Assistant: A New Lens on Artificial Intelligence

In the midst of a technological revolution, I find myself constantly in awe of how innovation has the power to redefine our world. As a tech enthusiast, I’ve recently started to question whether the term ‘Artificial Intelligence‘ (AI) truly does justice to the capabilities of these cutting-edge systems. Perhaps it’s time to embrace a new perspective and consider calling it ‘Digital Assistant.’ Let me take you on a journey to explore my thought process behind this proposition.

Intelligence, as we generally understand it, is linked to living beings and their cognitive abilities. For now, let’s set aside the distinction between living and non-living entities and focus on the concept of intelligence itself.

Modern AI systems can be seen as advanced data collectors and analyzers, much like other software tools. However, unlike these conventional tools, which require data to be input in a specific format and the use of programming languages for communication, AI has the unique ability to comprehend natural language. This means that you can interact with AI systems using plain English or any other language you prefer, thanks to in-built translation capabilities.

Furthermore, AI has access to vast amounts of pre-existing data and is designed to respond to generic queries. It can’t provide answers to questions based on information that hasn’t been fed into it, but it can process what it has at its disposal quickly and efficiently.

So, if AI can understand and respond to instructions in our language and has access to extensive data, why not call it Artificial Intelligence? The reason is that AI doesn’t possess intelligence in the true sense of the word. It may seem intelligent because it can complete tasks that we typically associate with intelligence, such as summarizing articles or writing code. However, it doesn’t have its own intelligence; it relies on the expertise of engineers and scientists who have spent years developing these modules or algorithms.

I believe a more fitting term for AI would be “Digital Assistant“. This descriptor emphasizes the role of AI as a tool that accesses and presents digital resources based on our requests.

People might think of AI as intelligent because it can perform tasks that require a certain level of knowledge or skill, like teaching or searching the internet. However, these abilities have been carefully trained and developed by engineers, making AI more of a sophisticated digital assistant than an intelligent being.

Another reason for the confusion lies in AI’s apparent ability to be creative, such as writing poems or creating art. But we must be cautious when labeling these outputs as “creative“—a term typically reserved for human intelligence. AI’s “creativity” is derived from existing inputs and algorithms, not from a genuinely unique creative process.

In conclusion, as a tech enthusiast, I feel that it’s more accurate to refer to the current state of AI as “Digital Assistant” rather than Artificial Intelligence.

#aritificialintelligence #digitalassistant #technology #techenthusiasts #artificial #intelligence

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the opinions of any organizations or institutions with which the author is affiliated. ChatGPT a Digital Assistant has been utilized to improve grammar.

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