We can barely listen to any news about technology without hearing about artificial intelligence (AI). With all the buzz around AI, we might wonder about its impact on our children's Education. Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, compares AI's impact today to electricity in the 18th Century. Prof. Peter Okebukola, a physics teacher in his early years, explains that there are two ways to open a cocked bottle. Grind it out with your teeth and probably end up chipping your enamel, or use a simple device called a bottle opener that serves as leverage to open the bottle with minimal effort. Put simply, that's what AI is: leverage to simplify complex and routine tasks. This article is a crash course on AI that will help educators and parents understand its merits and limitations.
“Between now and 2030, AI will create an estimated $13 trillion of GDP growth,” Andrew Ng.
AI can be classified into three (3) areas:
Artificial Narrow Intelligence is good at performing single tasks, like Alexa playing music, using a face detection app, or doing a web search.
Generative Artificial Intelligence, based on the large language model (LLM), is the latest breakthrough in AI and is commonly used today, such as Chat GPT, Meta AI, Gemini, and Copilot. These AI applications are intelligent and conversational.
Artificial General Intelligence, the next generation of AI, combines Artificial Narrow Intelligence and Generative Artificial Intelligence to function like humans.
How does AI work?
AI works with a pattern: input, process, and output.