Week 1 – Self Reflective Journal

What are the most interesting ideas I learned this week from the reading material?

Since this is my first time to go deep in the world of A.I., I’m starting to understand the history, some basic concepts of A.I. and most of the reading material was quite interesting. Here are some of the materials I found appealing:

- The first thing that comes to my mind about A.I. is that, it would be about robotics, computer technology and intelligences. However, as stated from wikipedia.org, A.I. can also focus on “animal studies” such as insects and apes for better understanding how intelligence could be organized. This is particularly interesting to me because it shows the development of A.I. seeking expansion from not only human-based but also towards animal and nature based.

- The growth of A.I over the past five decades has been quite significant. Starting from the 1950’s when Alan Turing introduced the ‘Turing Test’ (machine to perform human-like conversations) until recently DARPA Grand Challenge (which is a competition for driverless cars) or even the Checkmate Challenge (a computer based chess program), we can see that A.I. has come a long way and yet have to go so far. Of course, development of A.I. have started way before the 1950’s and even today, with the help of internet, sites such as A.L.I.C.E and Ask Jeeves provide simple yet fascinating forms of A.I.

What are the muddiest points from the reading material?

During my reading, there weren’t many muddiest points as the materials provided were quite self-explanatory as well as very descriptive. However, there was one point that caught my eye:

- According to wikipedia.org, the development of A.I. during the 1980’s seemed to slow down and government organizations didn’t want to fund A.I. projects. As we know, advancement in A.I. takes lot of funding from sources for machines and other equipment and this led to the A.I. winter. After such consistent development in the A.I. field throughout the years, I just couldn’t digest why people wouldn’t want to see more in this field?

What are my next steps in studying?

My next steps in preparing and studying for this course would to try to read through various sources to understanding more on the implementation of A.I. and art. The first week’s reading material was based more on the history and background of A.I. So I want to understand how art got into business with intelligence. Also, by doing case studies of different individuals who have/are practicing A.I. and Art, I believe this is a unique way to learn about the subject through real life cases.

If I was a teacher, what questions would I ask my students on this subject?

- How would you see the development of A.I. and Art from 50 years from now? Do you think there will be an increase or decrease in the growth towards A.I. and Art?
- Why do you think that it necessary/important to use art with A.I. where as there are many ways of creating art? Are there any advantages or disadvantages when doing so?
- Can A.I. be programmed into developing their own thoughts/expressions as to create art?