The Era of AI!
by Alex Apostolov, Editor-in-Chief
Today we live in a world that without a doubt we can describe as the era of AI due to the extensive influence and integration of artificial intelligence across various domains of our life. The concept of AI is not something new, but the technology has changed dramatically during the last two decades that made where we are today possible.
Significant progress in machine learning and deep learning has led to the development of systems that can learn, adapt, and perform complex tasks with minimal human intervention. This includes image and speech recognition, natural language processing, and autonomous systems. The availability of huge amounts of data has fueled AI research and development, allowing algorithms to be trained on large, diverse sets of information, improving their accuracy and capabilities.
AI-driven virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant have become commonplace, providing users with convenience and enhancing daily activities. Platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify use AI to personalize user experiences, suggesting content based on user preferences and behavior.
AI is revolutionizing industries by automating tasks that were previously manual, such as manufacturing, logistics, and even customer service through chatbots. AI is being used to diagnose diseases, personalize treatment plans, and accelerate drug discovery, significantly impacting patient care and medical research.
Continuous advancements in AI research are pushing the boundaries of what machines can do, from understanding natural language to driving autonomous vehicles. AI is being integrated into fields like finance, education, agriculture, and more, driving innovation and efficiency. Both governments and private companies are investing heavily in AI research and development, recognizing its potential to drive economic growth and solve complex societal problems. The global dialogue on AI ethics, governance, and policy highlights its significance and the need for thoughtful integration into society.
The era of AI can be traced back to the middle of the last century when in 1950 Alan Turing published “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” which proposed the Turing Test as a criterion for machine intelligence.
I became interested in this topic when I was in college around 1970 and I was reading papers on pattern recognition in the transactions of the IEEE. Around 1993 while I was working at New York State Electric & Gas I was involved in a project using artificial neural networks for high impedance fault detection that ended up with me and my colleagues receiving two patents for this solution.
From everything that has been said so far it is clear that AI has been around in different forms for some time, but the introduction of ChatGPT resulted in the explosion of the visible interest in AI that is affecting the electric power industry as well. That is why we decided to dedicate this issue of the magazine to the topic of AI and its applications in our industry.
I decided that it will be appropriate to have AI write the cover story to demonstrate its capabilities. So, I used ChatGPT 4 to prepare the article in a few steps:
- Step #1 was to ask it to prepare and outline of the cover story which it immediately generated
- Then I used each one of the proposed topics in the outline as the prompt asking ChatGPT to generate a certain number of words of text covering this specific topic
- After all this became available, I put together the generated text in a single file containing the text of the complete article.
The text that you see in the cover story published in this issue is exactly as it was generated by the AI and has not been edited at all.
Generating the images was also an interesting experience using DALL-E. I asked it to visualize for example some of the typically used learning methods. However, as you can see in the article, it did not generate diagrams but artistic images representing its idea of the specific method visualized. That is why I asked our graphic designer to create the diagrams representing these specific methods and have them side by side with what was produced by the AI.
It is really very exciting to be part of this new era of AI that is going to make a significant impact on how we operate the electric power grid in our efforts to make it more efficient and reliable. We should not be afraid of it but figure out how it can help us in doing the best we can in our jobs.
“What all of us have to do is to make sure we are using AI in a way that is for the benefit of humanity, not to the detriment of humanity.”
Tim Cook
