18 years, 7 months, and 8 days ago, on April 1, 2005, I published my first article on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Editorial Quark, titled “Development of Electronic Projects with Artificial Intelligence Techniques. Introduction to Neural Networks, Implementation in Microcontrollers.” Since then, AI, like the mythical Ship of Theseus renewing its parts, has transformed not only its structure but also our world.
The Beginnings and the Establishment of Solid Foundations
The journey of AI began in the 18th century with statistics, forming the original hull of our ship. These fundamental analytical tools, the original planks of the ship, were crucial for subsequent advancements.
Hoisting the Sails towards New Horizons
With the arrival of Machine Learning in the 1950s, AI embarked on its true journey towards distant destinations, although with unforeseen challenges.
Navigating into Deeper Waters
The introduction of the backpropagation algorithm in the 1990s, akin to Theseus renewing the sails of his ship, marked a significant improvement in its capabilities. Deep Learning strengthened our vessel with a more robust hull, capable of withstanding the storms of data and complex patterns, while supervised learning provided the essential maps for navigation.
Discovering New Worlds with Flexibility
Then came a pivotal moment in 2012 with the demonstration of AlexNet's capabilities, symbolizing a significant tipping point for multi-layered artificial neural networks. This was akin to enhancing the ship with a more adaptable structure. Following this, AI broadened its adaptability to diverse 'seas' through improved Deep Learning and multitask models. This phase marked an increase in versatility, reducing the reliance on large volumes of meticulously labeled data, and opening up new pathways for exploration and discovery.
Navigating with Self-Sufficiency and Revolutionary Advances
In the most recent era, marked by self-supervised learning and reinforcement learning, our ship gained the capability of an advanced autopilot, charting new courses by itself.
Towards the Future: A New Era of Multimodality and Holistic Understanding
Looking to the future, the incorporation of multimodality in models like ChatGPT represents the transformation of the Ship of Theseus into a vessel capable of sailing not just seas but also skies and lands. We are entering an era where AI not only comprehends and generates text but also adapts and integrates multiple forms of communication and learning.
AI, like the Ship of Theseus, will continue to evolve constantly, adapting and overcoming new challenges to explore unknown horizons. I invite you to be part of this intriguing journey with Nybble Group, discovering together what this exciting adventure holds for us. At the end of the day, we all have an explorer inside us, waiting to be discovered.
------------ Written by Sergio Richter
