Artificial intelligence, as known as A.I., is a field of computer science that is controversial. Many people around the world have misunderstandings about the potential of artificial intelligence. Media exposure to artificial intelligence, most notably Alphago, has created a misconception that A.I. will soon exceed human intelligence. While those misconceptions may become a reality in the future, current technologies are not advanced enough.

A.I. programs are created through different types of neural networks. All neural networks are built upon different “layers.” Each layer has different amounts of artificial neurons that connect to the previous and next layers. Therefore, having more layers can create more complex A.I. systems. However, even the most notable A.I. systems do not have a lot of layers, at least compared to the human brain.

For instance, AlphaGo consists of two 13-layered networks with an additional value layer. Training those networks with over 30 million moves performed by human experts, the first version of AlphaGo was created. However, does that mean that the human brain lacks the capacity of artificial networks? Considering that humans have 86 billion neurons, and each neuron is connected to 10 thousand other neurons, the “organic neural network” that humans are naturally born with is indeed much more advanced than any existing A.I. algorithm.

However, if human brains are far more advanced than A.I., why are neural networks so efficient at what they are designed for? First of all, unlike humans, a computer system can recall all sorts of data. It can simply put an amount of information a normal person would not be able to remember and recall the exact specifics of 30 million Go moves even if they wanted to. Furthermore, neural networks perform extremely accurately in controlled environments. A.I. operates most accurately when all external variables are moderated or non-existent, which is the case for games like Go and Chess.

A.I. can be better than humans on certain tasks; however, the current development of A.I. is not advanced enough to exceed human intelligence as a whole. No one knows how the field of artificial intelligence will advance in the future. However, the current state of technology is not as disastrous as some may perceive.

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