Demystifying AI: Understanding the human-machine relationship

The artificial intelligence of today has almost nothing in common with the AI of science fiction. In "Star Wars," "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica," we're introduced to robots who behave like we do -- they are aware of their surroundings, understand the context of their surroundings and can move around and interact with people just as I can with you. These characters and scenarios are postulated by writers and filmmakers as entertainment, and while one day humanity will inevitably develop an AI like this, it won't happen in the lifetime of anyone reading this article. Because we can rapidly feed vast amounts of data to them, machines appear to be learning and mimicking us, but in fact they are still at the mercy of the algorithms we provide. To illustrate this in grossly simplified terms, imagine a computer system in an autonomous car.