Hello all - it's been a little while since I last wrote up a post, this is mostly due to sandwiching deadlines between holidays and running out of time! This blog will go over some of the final parts of my module and will also have a little bit at the end about what I'm up to at the moment. Enjoy!

Final Thoughts on AI

The final assignment for this module was to choose one of the three emerging trends (artificial intelligence, blockchain and pervasive computing) and write an almost "summary" essay on what problems it is trying to solve and how well it solves it. In the end I chose AI, as this is the subject I feel the most comfortable with and this was the hardest essay thus far. The topic was very vague and the word count was 2000 words. I found though that I was able to draw on my own experiences and incorporate them into sections of my essay. So much so I had whole paragraphs of original content I didn't even need to reference. I sat there experimenting with my Alexa, figuring out what it was capable of, gathering my own evidence. It has not been graded yet, but hopefully this will work in my favour and not against me. I've included the essay in this blog post, as I think it is really accessible and uses real life examples that are easy to understand. Having said that I'll leave you with the conclusion section for those lazy readers. It sums up my final thoughts on the future of Artificial Intelligence, but may even give you a taste to read the entire thing.

It is clear from the examples previously mentioned that AI can have powerful impacts on both a local and global scale and will continue to play a strong role in technological advancements across all planes. In specific tasks, AI can replicate human intelligence as well as surpass it.

However, as outlined throughout this essay, artificial intelligence also has its own limitations. Some examples, like the Amazon Echo laughter, developers can refine with more data. Others, such as the moral dilemma of self-driving cars, show that simply to collecting more data would not be the answer and it is difficult to tell if developers can overcome these challenges fully.

In conclusion, as the technology continues to develop and improve there is a potential future where it will get close to prevailing in replicating and surpassing many tasks, but whether it will ever do this perfectly or achieve this in its entirely, at present, is unknown.

If you'd like to read the full essay you can access it here.

Finishing my final module

I write to you now from the lovely French countryside in a beautiful country house gîte. Last week, I finished up my first university module and I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. This means I have already completed 8% of my graded work. I'm still awaiting my final mark on my final assignment, but it looks like I will have passed with a good grade that will set me up well for the upcoming modules. My next module starts next week, where I will finally get to do some coding assignments for grading (yay!). Throughout this first module we had little coding exercises here and there. I do have some experience already (as you may have picked up in some of my other blogs) but I'm keen to dive into some proper assignments.

That being said, it's been nice to have a little break in between. I find myself wondering what to do on Saturdays again. Lately, I also find myself straying further and further away from social media - particularly Facebook. I find that the longer I spend on it, the more low and unmotivated I become. And so, with my new phone acquired this month, I removed the Facebook app from my home page. It's not deleting it, but it's certainly a start to stop me clicking into it and ending up on the timeline scrolling. I now only look at it occasionally on my PC. I still have messenger, as this is where 90% of my conversations take place, but I'm thinking maybe I will slowly graduate it all into WhatsApp (although even this is owned by Facebook - lol). I genuinely have noticed a difference in my mood without it there.

For something a bit more informative and in depth into my concerns with Facebook in particular, I came across this video that is worth a watch. It was made off the back of the outage recently, and makes you think a little about the future of Facebook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJtNmd1kV44

With all that being said, I will be back again in about 1.5 weeks! Stay tuned. Thanks for joining me so far.