Computer Vision

Software that does tasks we normally expect a person to do is called artificial intelligence. One common way to build it is machine learning. The system is shown many examples, and works out the pattern for itself. No person writes the rule.^{1, 2}

There are three common kinds of AI system: recognition, prediction and generation. The first kind is recognition. The system takes in a picture, a sound or a text, and works out what it contains. For example, point Google Lens at a plant, and it tells you what plant it is.³

The next kind is prediction. The system estimates something not yet known, such as what you will like. For example, Instagram predicts which posts and reels you will want to see, and orders your feed that way.^{4, 5}

The last kind is generation. The system produces new material: text, pictures or sound. For example, ChatGPT writes an answer to a question you type, and Google Translate turns a sentence into another language.^{6, 7}