What is AI? Useful basic intro Discussion

A nice piece from Computing practitioner David Bombal, his Youtube link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH9RQ6Yx75c&t=47s

Computerphile: David Bombal     Many related links below

If you are into cybersecurity or any other field, you probably want to learn about AI and ML. They can really help your resume and help you increase the $$$ you earn.

AI just become Sentient? And will it take your job? Or is AI just a fantastic opportunity for you to get a better job? In this interview with Dr Michael Pound we discuss hype vs reality and get a quick start guide on how to learn AI. 

// MENU //

00:00 - Coming Up

00:45 - Intro

01:10 - Michael Pound introduction

02:49 - Will AI take our jobs?

04:55 - What is LaMDA?

08:38 - Can Python functions get lonely?

11:26 - The definition of "sentience"

11:59 - AI vs Machine Learning

18:48 - Neural Networks

19:49 - Malware example

21:59 - Stochastic Gradient Descent

22:30 - Supervised learning

23:45 - Unsupervised learning

26:03 - Reinforcement learning

27:35 - Are the robots taking over?

30:14 - What is AI really good at?

33:28 - Definition of Deep Learning

35:37 - Neural Networks

36:53 - What to learn

40:50 - Using PyTorch

43:52 - Google colab

44:48 - Study recommendations

46:16 - The demand for AI skills

48:15 - Teaching cyber security 

50:06 - Final Advice

55:09 - Conclusion

// Video mentions //

ComputerPhile (lambda is not sentient): https://youtu.be/iBouACLc-hw

Data Analysis Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxYEz...

Neural Networks Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py5by...

Computer Vision Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zFh...

// BOOK //

Deep learning by Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio and Aaron Courville: https://amzn.to/3vmu4LP

// COURSE //

AI For Everyone by Andrew Ng: https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for... 

What is AI?

Good,  extensive,  not very technical look at the question.  Intro below.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

By Jessica Hall on April 4, 2022 at 8:00 am  in ExtremeTech

To many, AI is just a horrible Steven Spielberg movie. To others, it’s the next generation of learning computers. But what is artificial intelligence, exactly? The answer depends on who you ask. Broadly, artificial intelligence (AI) is the combination of computer science and robust datasets, deployed to solve some kind of problem.

Many definitions of artificial intelligence include a comparison to the human mind or brain, whether in form or function. Alan Turing wrote in 1950 about “thinking machines” that could respond to a problem using human-like reasoning. His eponymous Turing test is still a benchmark for natural language processing. Later, Stuart Russell and John Norvig observed that humans are intelligent, but we’re not always rational. Russell and Norvig saw two classes of artificial intelligence: systems that think and act like a human being, versus those that think and act rationally. Today, we’ve got all kinds of programs we call AI.

‘AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable’

Many AIs employ “neural nets,” whose code is written to emulate some aspect of the architecture of neurons or the brain. However, not all intelligence is human-like. Nor is it necessarily the best idea to emulate neurobiological information processing. That’s why engineers limit how far they carry the brain metaphor. It’s more about how phenomenally parallel the brain is, and its distributed memory handling. As defined by John McCarthy in 2004, artificial intelligence is “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.”  .... '

Visualized Quantum Computing

Nicely done, largely non technical.   Visual look by an academicjust learning about the topic.:

Visualizing Quantum Computation  in TowardsdataScience

From Zero to Understand What the Hack is Happening!

Alessandro Berti

Hi there! I’m a Ph.D. student at University of Pisa and my research topic is Quantum Computing!

My First Approach to Quantum Computing

I have to be honest, the very first approach to Quantum Computing is struggling, especially for those who come from a CS degree ( just like me :) ). There is a little to which you can hang on based on your classical computer scientist experience.

One problem in quantum computation is for sure a visualization problem.

Can you understand what the following quantum circuit does?

Figure 1. What is this Quantum Cirtcuit? [Image by Author]

If you are a beginner, probably no. I had the same problem too!

I do believe that this way of representing the code of a quantum algorithm in quantum circuits misses “a dimension”. This kind of representation tricked me. It was implicitly forcing me to reason in a 2D dimension while the reality was in 3D, so I was unable to visualize it properly. ... " 

What is the IOT?

 A good generalized, non-technical view of what the IOT (Internet of Things) is all about and what its implications and dangers are.

In ZNet: What is the IoT? Everything you need to know about the Internet of Things right now

Updated: The Internet of Things explained. What the IoT is, and where it's going next. ... "

By Steve Ranger

Basic, Non-technical look at Quantum Computing

Looks to be a good, basic, non technical introduction, and also links to further free courses.

Quantum Computing for the Newb
Introductory Concepts
By Amelie Schreiber

In this article, we will give a basic introduction to our free course material for quantum computing. This is an introductory course for the absolute beginner. If you are not an expert in computer programming or mathematics, this course is for you! It introduces all of the basic math needed for quantum computing and the basic programming skills you need will also be introduced. Best of all, everything is in interactive, online, Jupyter notebooks. So there is no need to download anything or learn terminal. If you already feel comfortable with Python, then much of this will be a breeze! You can focus more on the concepts from quantum physics such as state vectors, quantum gates represented as matrices, and quantum circuit diagrams. To get to the material, follow this Github pages link. ... " 

Beginners Guide to Smart Contracts

Extract.

Everything You Need to Know About Smart Contracts: A Beginner’s Guide   Introducing Smart Contracts and its features in an efficient way  By Mayank Pratap  in Hackernoon

One of the most unique features of blockchain is its quality of acting as a decentralized which is shared between all the parties of the network thus, eliminating the involvement of middlemen or third-party intermediaries. This feature is particularly useful because it saves you from the chances of any process conflict and saves time too. Though Blockchains have their own set of issues that are yet to be resolved, they offer faster, cheaper and more efficient options as compared to the traditional systems. Due to this, even the banks and governmental organizations are turning to blockchains these days.

Smart contracts can be termed as the most utilized application of blockchain technology in the current times. The concept of smart contracts was introduced by Nick Szabo, a legal scholar, and cryptographer in the year 1994. He came to a conclusion that any decentralized ledger can be used as self-executable contracts which, later on, were termed as Smart Contracts. These digital contracts could be converted into codes and allowed to be run on a blockchain.

Though the idea of smart contracts came into existence long back, the current world that we live in works on paper-based contracts. Even if digital contracts are used, the involvement of a trusted third-party from the system cannot be eliminated. While we have defined a system of functioning with this method; we cannot say for sure if it is always smooth. The involvement of third-party might lead to security issues or fraudulent activities along with an increased transactional fee.

With the introduction of blockchain in the digital technology space, such issues can be addressed efficiently. A blockchain based system allows all the entities in the network to interact with each other in a distributed manner thus, eliminating the requirement of any trusted third-party. In simple terms, Blockchain is a technology that stores data on a distributed ledger. The stored data of records and transactions are available to all the parties in the network in real-time. Blockchain technology gained attention with the introduction of the Bitcoin, the first and most established cryptocurrency so far. Other than the application of cryptocurrency, Blockchain has evolved and its use cases are coming forward in different industries.

Smart contracts are one of the most successful applications of the blockchain technology. Using smart contracts in place of traditional ones can reduce the transaction costs significantly. Ethereum is the most popular blockchain platform for creating smart contracts. It supports a feature called Turing-completeness that allows the creation of more customized smart contracts. Smart contracts can be applied in different industries and fields such as smart homes, e-commerce, real-estate and asset management etc.  ....