The Future Of AI Is “Smart” With Cognitive Science

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The human brain is accustomed to accepting the natural course of things and when science contrives AI, there is a certain discomfort. What if the superficialness of the element is completely removed? What if AI is able to learn things by itself and make decisions? It is already happening. Cognitive science is what’s fueling this phenomenon. We’ll get to that eventually. 

How much is AI impacting your lives today?

You’ll be surprised to find variations of AI in so many of your regular activities. When you open Google Maps to check the traffic situation, the app relies on location data and manages to analyze traffic movement based on it. This is helpful AI or Augmented AI which nudges you in a direction or attends to your needs like Alexa and Siri. When you upload pictures on facebook, it automatically detects faces and asks you to tag them. 

On a larger front, Autonomous cars, flying drones, automated tasks, automated medical machines, robots, etc are also great examples of existing AIs. 

In fact, this very article I am writing is getting Grammarly suggestions as I am proceeding to the next sentence. It’s saving me time and effort in proofreading and helping me improve my grammar. 

AI has already indulged human beings to a large extent which confirms that it is here to stay and grow. 

Read more: How Artificial Intelligence Is Moving Ahead From Science Fiction To Reality

What is the expected future of AI?

The ‘artificial’ characteristic of AI might soon be replaced with ‘smart’ as scientists and researchers turn to cognitive science. The future of AI mainly focuses on automating tedious tasks and enabling AI to work in dangerous scenarios. 

For example, automating transportation would help reduce accidents since the machine is able to possess all the required data to drive. The use of AI in healthcare would be crucial to perform complex processes at a faster pace. AI’s ability to give insights will make it more useful to most industries as it is able to acquire and store a huge amount of data. Seamless interaction and intelligent discussions with humans will make it a real part of the human world. 

AI would also become very useful in tackling world issues such as climate change by suggesting ways to stop it. Some researchers question smart AI’s ability to wage wars or to be useful for human wars. This would be the antagonized version of an AI that has learned war games by itself.

But, what exactly is cognitive science?

What is Cognitive Science

The word ‘Cognitive’ by itself means the mental process of knowing, understanding and learning. 

Cognitive science is an attempt at unraveling how the mind functions and the nature of knowledge it acquires, processes and stores. In simple terms, it is the study of the human mind. 

It builds its foundation by taking concepts from different disciplines such as psychology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, philosophy, and neuroscience. This makes it interdisciplinary in nature and heavily reliant on research. 

Cognitive science conducts an in-depth study on memory, visual perception, thinking, and reasoning, language, decision making and social cognition. 

What is the goal of Cognitive Science?

Cognitive Science hopes to better understand the sources and principles of human intelligence which helps in the innovation of intelligent devices. 

How is it different from psychology and neuroscience?

Cognitive science is definitely using the concepts of psychology and neuroscience but it is more specific to the human mind. While psychology concentrates on human behavior and mind in its conscious as well as unconscious state, cognitive science is more about processes of the mind. It is a subset of psychology. 

Coming to neuroscience, it is genuine biology that studies the neural tissue and maps the presence of stimuli in parts of the brain during activity. It is the study of the brain in its physiological and anatomical capacity. Cognitive science, on the other hand, is more concerned with the time it takes for the brain to react to stimuli.  

Also Read: Face-Recognition Technology A Double-Edged Sword For India

Why is Cognitive Science important for AI?

As AI immerses itself into a variety of professions and aspects, the use of cognitive science becomes extremely important. For any industry to benefit, they need to understand what will work for the human mind and how to please it. Since AI sets foot in these industries, it will have to perform to these standards. Here are a few examples that prove why Cognitive Science is important for AI: 

• The study of the mind is an invaluable resource for almost every organization, especially education, psychology, and research. Educational organizations adopt technology to teach better and they could use AI effectively if it understands the needs of the students better. 
• Engineering and medicine tools and devices need to be better equipped to gauge the coping of the human brain and simplify it for them. For example, automated cars also need to be designed in a way humans are able to understand how to work them. 
• Human resources can use cognitive science to better productivity levels in individuals and grow them to the best of their potential. Any field that interacts with humans will need to have an understanding of the mental and emotional processes in human beings. 
• Banking professionals providing automated financing services would also need to have a great understanding of the human mind and how to appeal to them. The tools powered by AI offered by them need to be easy for people to use.
• Personalized features in the usability of Apps need to ask the right questions to understand customer preferences and how to provide it to them. For example, personalized shopping experiences, social media face detection, social media showing related content, etc. 

In conclusion…

AI is bound to integrate into the human world with a lot of effort, first being conquering the ability to think independently and with empathy. While scientists will use Cognitive science to replicate intelligence in AI, eventually AI will be using cognitive science to understand humans better. It will develop the ability to learn new things, make decisions by rationalizing and provide useful insights for human beings. The future is smart for AI and easier for us. 

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