A Beginner’s Guide to Using Artificial Intelligence

An Introduction to Practical AI Applications

Artificial intelligence (AI) often seems like a complex technology used solely by tech companies and research labs. But in reality, AI has become an integral part of our everyday lives. As a beginner looking to benefit from AI, a basic understanding of what AI is and how you can start using it can open up a world of helpful applications. This guide aims to make AI approachable for everyday users by explaining key AI concepts, outlining practical uses, and providing actionable tips to begin leveraging AI tools right away.

Artificial intelligence refers to computer systems or machines that can perform tasks and functions that would normally require human intelligence and cognition. As AI expert and Stanford professor Andrew Ng explains:

“Artificial intelligence is the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans.”

Some of the key capabilities that comprise AI include:

Machine Learning— This allows AI systems to automatically learn, improve, and optimize from data without being explicitly programmed. Key machine learning methods include neural networks, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and supervised/unsupervised learning algorithms.

Computer Vision— This enables AI systems to see, identify objects, analyze images and videos, and even detect emotions and facial expressions. This is what powers photo-organizing apps, facial recognition, and self-driving cars.

Natural Language Processing— This allows AI systems to understand, interpret, interact with, and generate human languages like English. This enables chatbots, text summarization, sentiment analysis, translations, and more.

Robotics— This field uses AI to make automated machines that replicate human and animal behavior and sophistication. Robotics can automate physical tasks from factory work to surgeries.

While the technical details of artificial intelligence are complex, AI manifests in helpful, accessible ways in common consumer products and services:

Virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana use AI to understand voice commands, answer questions, make recommendations, and even control smart home devices. They can understand natural language, engage in conversations, and get smarter over time.

AI technologies like Grammarly, Boomerang, and Google’s Smart Compose suggest ways to correct and enhance your writing, schedule emails to be sent at optimal times, help manage email workflows, and even provide automated summaries of key details from long emails.

Apps like Adobe, Remini, and Hotpot.ai utilize AI to significantly improve the quality of photos and videos. They can upscale resolution, optimize brightness and contrast, colorize black and white images, remove distortion, reduce noise, and even fill in missing details through extrapolation.

Your smartphone keyboard gets “smarter” over time as AI detects your favorite phrases and writing style to enable next-word predictions and autocorrect which speeds up typing and reduces errors.

AI-powered translation apps like Google Translate allow you to seamlessly communicate across language barriers. By analyzing context and millions of samples, they can translate text or speech into another language in real time, making global collaboration easy.

Here are some simple tips to help total beginners ease into enjoying the capabilities of artificial intelligence in their daily lives:

- Activate voice assistants like Siri or Google Assistant on your smartphone and smart speaker devices for hands-free help in performing useful tasks like setting reminders, controlling appliances, getting information, and more. Make use of their conversational abilities.

- Incorporate AI writing enhancement tools like Grammarly into your email and document workflows. Let these tools catch embarrassing mistakes and make your communications more polished and professional.

- Download user-friendly photo and video editing apps like Adobe, Remini, and Hotpot.ai to quickly improve all the images and videos from your phone’s camera roll. See the sometimes dramatic enhancements AI can make through automatic optimization.

- When online shopping, opt into any available product or content recommendations on retail sites, social media, and streaming services. Discover items and entertainment tailored just for you by letting AI analyze your tastes.

- Install next-word prediction keyboard replacements like SwiftKey. By letting AI closely monitor your typing over time, it can significantly accelerate typing by reducing mistakes and suggesting full words and phrases.

- Try out translation apps like Google Translate to effortlessly communicate with people speaking different languages. Experience how AI can break down language barriers in real-time text and voice conversations.

As AI expert and professor Fei-Fei Li explains:

“AI is already all around us, from the phones in our hands to the movies we watch. Slowly but surely, it’s making everything easier.”_

Start small by incorporating these beginner-friendly AI tools into your daily routines. As you grow comfortable, explore expanding how you leverage AI across work and life. Enjoy the simplicity and convenience of artificial intelligence!