Word for Wednesday: AI

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In this week’s Word for Wednesday we’ll be looking into Steven Hawking’s bleak warning of a future governed by artificial intelligence or AI.

A popular theme that has been explored in science fiction from the very beginnings of the genre is a future in which humans superseded by another race – be it robots, aliens or even… apes (please, no more sequels!)

The possibility of this eventuality actually arising is closer than ever, according to Steven Hawking. He warns that the rapid development of AI (or Artificial Intelligence) should be approached with caution, as a computer that could ‘think’ for itself would not be “limited by slow biological evolution” like humans, and so we would soon be superseded by robots which could ‘re-design and re-program’ themselves indefinitely.

Essentially this possibility is much like the story Frankenstein but instead of an eight-foot tall superhuman; we would potentially end up with thousands of ‘thinking machines’ capable of outsmarting humans at every hurdle.

Despite this gloomy possibility, Artificial Intelligence is already used widely in almost every field, and even sits in your pocket on your smartphone.

Perhaps one day they’ll find a robot that could work for Spellzone…


10 Dec 2014
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"Thank goodness for Spellzone during this remote learning phase. The site is easy for students to navigate independently and they're really enjoying the activities and spelling games. You get an awful lot for your money with Spellzone. Really reassuring is the very prompt response with helpdesk queries. I've very rarely needed the helpdesk, but when I have, the issue has been addressed and sorted within a very short time."

Sarah Taggart, Oasis Academy Lord's Hill