When people hear about artificial intelligence as a technology, they take it to be a super-sophisticated technology that is meant for only scientists to understand. But they don't realize the fact that they encounter this technology in their daily activities. Artificial intelligence is simpler than you can ever imagine. The term simply means a process where an inanimate object takes certain decision on its own without human intervention.
When any object takes a decision on its own, it is said to be exhibiting an artificial intelligence. Although the technology has been adopted in highly technical situations, it is also being adopted in several simple situations. But when people hear the term what comes to their mind is the technology behind robots being flown to space to take certain actions. Yes, robots have been sent to other planets to take different photographs but that is a highly technical deployment of artificial intelligence.
In video games
There are several simple areas where artificial intelligence plays out in human lives. The commonest one is video games. Have you ever played soccer or fighting games with the computer? For soccer, you select your team of players and the computer selects its own. The computer plays the game with you as if someone else is holding the other control pad.
When the game is on, the computer will control its team while you control yours. Isn't the computer's team supposed to remain still? What do you think is responsible for how the computer competes with you? That is artificial intelligence at work.
When you are playing a fighting game, you select your preferred fighter while the computer selects its own. Its fighter will attack you, throw punches and even dodge or block your moves. If you are not careful, the computer may even defeat you. The computer exhibits artificial intelligence all through the game because it does not require any human intervention.
In virtual assistants
There is something common with Google-now, Siri and Cortana. They are all virtual assistants. They have been built on vast database of information from which they answer any question thrown at them. For instance, if you want to know the closest restaurant to a certain location, you can ask any of them. As long as you include the proper address and stipulate the distance. Each of them will search their database for all the restaurants that are within the stipulated distance and list them out for you.
Microsoft has even promised to upgrade cortana to the level that it will study its user so well that it will be able to anticipate his or her needs. That is nothing but artificial intelligence
In typing
The simplest form of artificial intelligence occurs when you are typing on your smartphone. By the time you type the first two letters of a word, the typing assistant brings up several words that begin with those two letters and expects you to select the appropriate one and move on to the next word. This makes typing much faster. It is the simplest form of artificial intelligence.