The Reality Behind AI Myths

This piece explores myths about Artificial Intelligence, such as "I need to go to a university and hire an AI PhD" and "I need to collect millions of images to even know if using AI is possible." As a former professor in artificial intelligence, one of my favorite–and surely one of the oldest–technological myths is found in the masterpiece, the Iliad. In Homer's poem narrating the Trojan War, the God of metalworking, Hephaestus, engineers one of the first robots known to history, a handmaiden designed to assist him in his forge. Not happy with limiting himself to manufacturing, Hephaestus steps it up by designing Talos, an automated bronze giant whose purpose was to protect ancient Crete from pirates and invaders. While thousands of years have passed since Hephaestus' mythical robots came to life, today's intelligent machines–strong of skillful AI–are making headway in our own workplaces.