Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology that carries out various tasks that generally need human brain power using the computer system (Lu et al., 2018). Such tasks involve language learning and comprehension, pattern identification, reasoning, and problem-solving. Machine learning, as is a key part of AI, has remarkably driven the progress of AI. It is mainly used to develop algorithms that enable machines to learn knowledge, predict trends, or make decisions by referring to data. Now machine learning has witnessed a wide application in image identification, language translation, and gaming such as Go and Chess.
There are mainly two types of AI, i.e. General AI and Narrow AI. General AI, or Strong AI, can carry out any task that needs human intelligence to achieve(Goertzel, 2007). In contrast, Narrow AI, or Weak AI, can only carry out some particular tasks or address certain problems. Typical cases of Narrow AI contain Alexa and Siri, and unmanned autonomous vehicles.
The Role of AI in the Internet
AI plays an important and multi-dimensional role in the Internet. It is more likely that human communication, consumption, and content creation on online platforms will be altered by AI.
Search Engine Optimization: We can get more accurate search results online if our computers run the AI algorithms that can comprehend our questions and offer precise answers related to the questions.
Personalization: AI can perform well in analyzing users’ behavior and push customized content, thereby providing a more involving and personalized experience.
Content Creation: By generating content like videos, articles, and images, AI can provide new user experiences or fill in gaps in content.
Cybersecurity: AI can protect the data privacy and security of users by identifying and blocking any cyber risk.
Social Media Management: AI has another advantage of detecting and preventing fake news and spam, helping to create a healthy social media environment.
Recommendation Systems: AI has a specific recommendation system that pushes consumer preferred content based on analysis of user behavior.
Natural Language Processing: AI can facilitate man-machine interactions as it can comprehend and generate human language.
Internet of Things (IoT): AI helps to improve the user-friendliness and efficiency of the Internet by controlling and managing devices in the IoT.
AI in Search Engines
The role of AI in optimizing search engine results
With the continuous progress of AI in the field of search engine, AI has made great contributions to more precise search engine results as AI algorithms can accurately grasp the users’ intentions under their questions and accordingly provide search results with high relevance. For instance, for the question “Most delicious pizza in Manhattan,” AI will know that the user hopes to find a place to eat pizza and then provide information of pizzerias and restaurants. Furthermore, AI can offer tailored search results as it has a memory of the users’ browsing history and search behavior. In a word, AI can achieve real-time information sorting and provide more accurate answers more rapidly(Zhang et al., 2021). For instance, for the search information “weather in New York City,” AI can grasp the user’s intention of hoping to understand the weather information of the city and then quickly provide a weather forecast for New York City.
Two examples of search engines using AI are listed below.
Case one: Google
The AI algorithm RankBrain developed by Google allows the search engines to comprehend search questions. It ascertains whether and to what extent a webpage is correlated to a search question by an analysis of more than 200 factors. Moreover, the AI-driven Snippets of Google can analyze the web content and summarize “snippet” in the search results. Therefore, users can more easily judge whether the page involves the information they need.
Case Two: Bing
Personalized Search of Bing can offer tailored search results for users by analyzing their search behavior and browsing history. Thus, users can obtain results catering to their demands. Moreover, the AI tool of Bing has a feature of automatically forecasting users’ next acts so that users can obtain more relevant search results and even related recommendations with a higher efficiency.
AI in Social Media
The impact of AI on social media platforms
AI has remarkably affected social media platforms, not only creating new approaches to improve consumer engagement but also enhancing user experience.
Particularly, AI can be used to create customized advertisements and content due to its ability to analyze individuals’ behavior and tastes. Take Facebook as an example. Through AI, Facebook provides content that better meets users’ preferences and search history.
Furthermore, AI helps social media platforms to identify and block harmful content and misinformation, thus keeping a trustworthy and healthy online environment. For instance, AI assists Twitter in pushing content that users overlook but may have an interest in and analyzes the tweets’ content to identify whether an emoji is contained.
AI in Content Creation
How AI can generate content (e.g., articles, images, videos)
Through training, AI algorithms are able to comprehend and generate texts as men do. For instance, we can use a large-scale database to train an AI language model \*\*\*\*\* to generate human-like essays, articles or other kinds of texts.
AI is also able to create images. DeepArt.ai is a typical example, and it creates vivid and realistic images through the description of images or input images. Some other AI algorithms can create videos from a large database of images based on similar principles.
AI can create videos. For instance, after analyzing various videos, AI algorithms can simulate the act and create similar videos. Moreover, AI can also generate music videos through an analysis of the music video.
AI can also create audios like speeches and music. An example is the generation of songs and new music through AI algorithms after an analysis on a set of original songs.
Howe AI affects human creators and content creation
AI has caused multiple, both positive and negative influences on human creators and content creation. First, AI can realize automatic processing of tasks like formatting, content improvement, and data analysis, so that creators can pay more attention to creating and innovating their work. However, it is also difficult for AI to accurately grasp the intricacies and subtle differences of human experiences and emotions. As a result, the content generated by AI lacks attractiveness and engagement. This necessitates further exploration and measures to maximize the advantages of AI and minimize its defects in the future development.
AI in Cybersecurity
Today, as cyber attacks keep increasing and have become more intricate, AI is playing a more significant role in ensuring cyberspace security. AI can more effectively prevent cyber risks and protect cyber security through the following methods.
AI algorithms can detect indicators of cyber risks, such as an abnormality or pattern, by analyzing massive data. Therefore, security teams can identify possible attacks and take immediate responses. For instance, through an analysis on the traffic patterns and detection of risky acts that may pose cyber threats, AI can enhance the effectiveness of firewalls and assist them to better prevent possible cyber threats.
AI is able to realize automatic detection and prioritization of any loophole in a company’s system. Therefore, the security team has more time and energy to handle the most important problems to minimize the possibility of cyber attacks. For example, AI can recognize abnormal user behaviors or activities that might disclose the risk of cyber threats based on continuous analysis on user behavior(Khaliq, 2022). This assists companies to identify account invasion or other cyber attacks and take corresponding blocking strategies in time.
To make sure the AI technology and its development can meet the ethical standards and show responsibility to human society, it is important to profoundly comprehend AI’s influence and take corresponding strategies. At the same time, we should also emphasize the protection of individuals’ personal privacy and security, enhancement of equality, and guarantee the welfare of all human beings in the digital era.
Reference List:
Goertzel, B. (2007). Artificial general intelligence (Vol. 2, p. 1). C. Pennachin (Ed.). New York: Springer.
Khaliq, Z., Farooq, S. U., & Khan, D. A. (2022). Artificial intelligence in software testing: Impact, problems, challenges and prospect. arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.05371.
Lu, H., Li, Y., Chen, M., Kim, H., & Serikawa, S. (2018). Brain intelligence: go beyond artificial intelligence. Mobile Networks and Applications, 23, 368-375.
Zhang, Q., Lu, J., & Jin, Y. (2021). Artificial intelligence in recommender systems. Complex & Intelligent Systems, 7, 439-457.