What Is Artificial Intelligence, Really?

In popular media, "Artificial Intelligence" is by turns godlike, monstrous, uncannily human and a hoax; it inspires both awe and deep suspicion - it's unnatural. Researchers who actually develop AI technologies - like those at PROWLER.io - prefer narrower, more useful terms like Machine Learning (ML) and decision theory. They're wary of the catch-all phrase "Artificial Intelligence", in part because human intelligence is itself largely artificial, an encoded system of man-made concepts, rules of thumb, recipes, customs, laws, even whole cultures. Humans have always used thinking tools, rules and systems to keep chaos at bay. Turn off the traffic lights in central London and you'll soon see how far "natural" intelligence gets us in a complex system.