Create with Helena Liu
Hi, I'm Helena. On this podcast, we talk about everything business, AI and automations.
Create with Helena Liu
AI Demystified: Practical Applications and Real-World Impact
Can artificial intelligence really transform our everyday lives and revolutionize entire industries? Buckle up as we take you on a fascinating journey through the world of AI, from its basic principles to its most advanced applications. We'll break down how AI-powered technologies like self-driving cars and ultra-accurate streaming recommendations work. By demystifying complex algorithms and explaining machine learning in simple terms, we’ll uncover how these algorithms learn from data and make decisions. Through relatable examples, we'll differentiate between supervised learning and unsupervised learning, and dive into the wonders of deep learning and artificial neural networks, highlighting their impressive capabilities in image recognition and autonomous driving.
Imagine a world where artificial intelligence not only secures your finances but also enhances your creative projects. In this episode, we explore AI's transformative impact across various fields, from revolutionizing fraud detection and market analysis to composing music and generating visual art. We’ll ponder the future of work, focusing on the increasing value of uniquely human skills like creativity, critical thinking, and empathy. As we reflect on how AI can liberate us from mundane tasks, we invite you to envision a symbiotic relationship between human and artificial intelligence—one that allows us to focus on meaningful pursuits and harness the full potential of our creative minds.
Learn how you can master AI with my free course: www.productcamps.com/free
All right, buckle up, because today we are diving deep into the world of AI.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:It feels like AI is absolutely everywhere these days.
Speaker 2:It really does.
Speaker 1:It's everywhere, right From self-driving cars to streaming services and the recommendations. They're eerily accurate right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It can almost feel like magic.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. What kind?
Speaker 1:of magic? Is it Absolutely?
Speaker 2:But the reality is it's less about magic and more about just really clever algorithms and tons of data.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So instead of thinking about like a complete takeover, oh, like the Terminator.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Think of it as machines becoming really good at specific tasks. Okay, they're mimicking human intelligence, but only in these very specific areas.
Speaker 1:So less Terminator, more like helpful tools. Exactly I like it, we've got a great stack of sources to unpack here today. We do From articles to research papers, and I think our mission today is to really try to cut through the hype, yeah, and give everyone a solid understanding of AI the potential, but also the limitations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and we'll be exploring everything from, like, the foundations of machine learning to the honestly kind of mind blowing world of deep learning, even what all the buzz is about with generative AI yeah, generative AI, like chat, gpt.
Speaker 1:Chat, gpt. Yeah so, speaking of buzz, the IBM article we have, it describes AI as this nested doll situation. What's the deal with that?
Speaker 2:It's actually a great analogy. So imagine you know opening up a doll and inside is another doll and each one is a layer deeper, and so in the AI world, that outermost doll is machine learning, or, as we call it, ml.
Speaker 1:Okay, ml, so that's our starting point.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What exactly is machine learning?
Speaker 2:So, at its core, machine learning is about algorithms learning patterns from data to then make decisions or predictions. Right, so let's say you're using like a navigation app on your phone.
Speaker 1:Okay, sure.
Speaker 2:And it suggests a faster route because of the traffic.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:That's machine learning in action.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 2:It's learned from like historical traffic patterns to be able to make a prediction.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:About the best route for you right now.
Speaker 1:That makes a lot of sense. So instead of a programmer like writing very specific rules for every single possibility, the ML, the machine learning algorithm, can kind of learn these rules on its own right, yeah yeah, just by like crunching all this data.
Speaker 2:Exactly by crunching the data, it learns and it adapts, and it's able to adjust. Pretty slick yeah.
Speaker 1:So within ML there are different approaches to learning. Yeah Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about supervised learning, unsupervised learning.
Speaker 2:Right. So a common analogy for supervised learning is teaching a dog a new trick.
Speaker 1:Okay, so like teaching my dog Sparky to shake a paw Exactly For a treat, exactly Okay.
Speaker 2:You're basically giving the dog labeled data.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You're showing it the action you want shake and then you're rewarding it when it gets it right.
Speaker 1:Right, when he does the thing, he gets the thing Exactly Okay.
Speaker 2:And so, in supervised learning, we feed the algorithm labeled data where we already know what the correct output should be. So this way, the algorithm can learn to map the inputs to outputs based on all those examples that we're giving it.
Speaker 1:So it's all about learning from examples, just like Sparky learns to shake his paw for a tasty treat.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So what about unsupervised learning? How does that fit into all of this?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So imagine, instead of like specifically training Sparky, you let him loose in a park.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And he's sniffing around, he's exploring.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:He's just like taking in the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're not telling him what to do.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Unsupervised learning is similar. We give the algorithm data without any labels or desired outcomes okay it's up to the algorithm to find the patterns, the relationships oh, wow and even like anomalies in that data, so it's like we're letting it lose.
Speaker 1:You see what it finds, exactly you can discover insights that we might have missed that's fascinating. Yeah, it's a really powerful tool. So unsupervised learning is like letting the algorithm explore the data landscape, and we're hoping it uncovers some hidden gems.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Very cool.
Speaker 2:And then if we dive one layer deeper into our AI nested doll, Okay, one layer deeper. We find deep learning, which is a really powerful type of unsupervised learning.
Speaker 1:Deep learning. This is where things get really interesting.
Speaker 2:It does. I mean we're talking about algorithms that are mimicking the human brain yeah at least that's my understanding you're on the right track, yeah okay so deep learning relies on artificial neural networks okay and these networks are inspired by the structure of the human brain right and these networks have multiple layers, hence deep learning makes sense that allows them to process information in a much more complex and nuanced way, right Compared to like traditional ML algorithm.
Speaker 1:And it's that complexity that allows deep learning to take on these like really impressive tasks like image recognition and things like that, exactly Like unlocking your phone with your face.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or self-driving cars.
Speaker 2:It's all thanks to deep learning.
Speaker 1:Being able to process all of that visual information so quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it can process that visual information, it can identify objects, it can make decisions based on what it's seeing.
Speaker 1:It's wild and that is a great example. Yeah, self-driving cars, one of the most popular examples of deep learning.
Speaker 2:But really out there right now. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Those cars are practically thinking for themselves.
Speaker 2:They're driving themselves.
Speaker 1:It's really mind blowing when you think about it.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:How does it work? So these algorithms are constantly analyzing data from the car sensors, like recognizing pedestrians, other vehicles, obviously, traffic signals, all while making split second decisions to steer, accelerate, brake the whole nine yards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's all happening in real time.
Speaker 1:All in real time. It's incredible how it all comes together.
Speaker 2:It really is. It's a testament to how far deep learning has come and the potential it has honestly for, like, the future of transportation and beyond.
Speaker 1:And this leads us to an even more recent and arguably even more intriguing realm of AI generative AI.
Speaker 2:Generative AI.
Speaker 1:This is where things get really creative.
Speaker 2:This is where it gets really interesting.
Speaker 1:This is where AI is like. Let me create original content, whether that's writing me poems, composing music, generating realistic images that we've never seen before.
Speaker 2:It's pretty wild what it can do.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. So how does it actually do that? How does it generate stuff that feels so original?
Speaker 2:So it's all thanks to this, like power of being trained on massive data sets.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Imagine like feeding this AI. Let's ChatGPT the entire Library of Congress.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Plus, like every book that's ever been written. It's a lot of books, every song, every script.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get the idea. It's a wild amount of information.
Speaker 2:Crazy amount of data.
Speaker 1:No wonder the training cost is in the millions for this.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. So ChatGPT basically gobbles all this up gobbles it up and it uses it to learn the patterns of human language, creativity, even humor yeah, it's really interesting oh, wow it analyzes the patterns and the relationships to be able to create something new right but that's still aligned with this style or the tone, the structure yeah, so it's almost like it's learning the rules of language yeah so well that it can then bend those rules and create its own interpretation exactly.
Speaker 1:That's really wild. That's super interesting it is really wild and it's not just limited to text right no, not at all, we're seeing this in images.
Speaker 2:We're seeing it in music music yeah it's everywhere a whole bunch of different modalities, which is really fascinating.
Speaker 1:Really, really fascinating. But we've covered a lot of theoretical ground here.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How is this being used in the real world?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the question, isn't it Right? It's not all theoretical.
Speaker 1:Beyond self-driving cars. Exactly Chat GPT.
Speaker 2:Right. I mean it's being used in more ways than I think we can even imagine. Wow, it's really quietly revolution From healthcare to finance, to even believe it or not, the arts.
Speaker 1:AI is infiltrating the arts.
Speaker 2:It's true, it's true.
Speaker 1:I'm going to need some more information on that we're going to have to dive into that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to do that.
Speaker 1:But I do remember reading in that IBM article about AI being used in customer service. Yeah, which is something that I think we can all relate to, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:Sure sure, no more waiting on hold for hours just to get a simple question answered Exactly. And those AI-powered chatbots are getting good.
Speaker 1:They are getting good.
Speaker 2:They're so much more sophisticated.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They can answer those frequently asked questions. They can, like, guide you through troubleshooting steps Yay, and they can even personalize those interactions based on you know what you've talked about before.
Speaker 1:It's like having a 24-7 customer service agent at your beck and call, except it's AI.
Speaker 2:Exactly, super efficient, super efficient, very cool. And that efficiency, you know, that theme kind of extends to other sectors.
Speaker 1:Like what.
Speaker 2:Like in finance, for example, AI is being used to detect fraud in real time.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:You can analyze market trends, okay, and it can even give you personalized financial advice.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, so it can spot those tricky credit card charges.
Speaker 2:Exactly that's fraudulent, that's right.
Speaker 1:It's like having an extra set of eyes constantly monitoring.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:For anything suspicious. That's really cool.
Speaker 2:And it's not just for our individual accounts. It's used to combat fraud on a much larger scale. Oh, really so it's helping businesses, helping institutions, prevent these financial losses and protect their customers.
Speaker 1:Huge impact, big impact Wow.
Speaker 2:And then going back to the arts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the arts. We've got to go back to the arts.
Speaker 2:I'm curious about this too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how is AI making its mark in such a creative field?
Speaker 2:It's really fascinating. So AI is being used to compose music, what it's generating, scripts for movies, for plays, and even creating some really stunning visual art.
Speaker 1:AI is writing symphonies now.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, it's still early days. Okay, ai is writing symphonies now. Well, I mean, it's still early days, but there are AI systems that can analyze musical patterns, you know, and generate melodies and harmonies and even entire compositions in different styles.
Speaker 1:It's incredible.
Speaker 2:It's really incredible. It's also a little unnerving. I know it's a lot to take in. It's a lot to take in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it makes you wonder what aspects of our lives won't be touched by AI in the future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a big question.
Speaker 1:It's almost like this AI wave is about to crash over all of us and change everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it feels like it's moving so fast.
Speaker 1:It really does.
Speaker 2:Faster than a lot of us could imagine, I think.
Speaker 1:Exactly. So how do we even begin to make sense of it all? What does it mean? What does it mean for us? What does it mean? What does?
Speaker 2:it mean for us? What does it all mean for our future? That's the big question.
Speaker 1:It is a big question.
Speaker 2:And it's impossible to predict the future.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But I think what we can do is look at where things are headed right now, yeah, understand the potential impact and really focus on how we can adapt Okay, and thrive in this like rapidly changing landscape.
Speaker 1:Adapt and thrive. I like that. So not fearing the machines taking over, but figuring out a way to work alongside them Exactly. Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not about being replaced. Okay, it's about understanding that AI is going to change the types of jobs that are available.
Speaker 1:Right, because some things will be automated.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:But that's going to open up new opportunities.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I mean, think about it. Someone has to design these AI systems, someone has to build them, they have to maintain them.
Speaker 1:We're going to need a whole new workforce as of. Ai specialists.
Speaker 2:We are to manage all this.
Speaker 1:OK, so we've got those jobs, but for, like the rest of us, what skills are going to be valuable in this future, where AI is everywhere?
Speaker 2:Well, that's where it gets really interesting, because, as AI takes on these routine tasks Right, these repetitive things, it's actually those skills that are uniquely human.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:That are going to become even more important.
Speaker 1:So creativity, critical thinking, yeah, problem solving the things that are harder.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:For AI to replicate.
Speaker 2:Those are the things that are going to set us apart. Okay. Being able to, like, think outside the docs yeah. Come up with innovative solutions to new problems Right. And navigate these complex situations, you know, using our judgment.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Those are the strengths that humans bring to the table.
Speaker 1:So it's not just about technical skills anymore. It's about these essential human skills that are much harder for AI to, I guess, grasp.
Speaker 2:Yeah, things like empathy, communication, collaboration working together, yeah, those interpersonal skills. Exactly those are going to be more important than ever.
Speaker 1:Right, because you can't really automate empathy, exactly, you can't really automate good communication or being able to collaborate effectively.
Speaker 2:And even just being able to understand and respond to the needs of another person. Those are the things that AI, at least for now, just can't do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's almost like the rise of AI is pushing all of us to become more human. I love that. To lean into the things that make us unique, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really beautiful way to put it. It's not us versus them.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's about this synergy.
Speaker 1:Working together.
Speaker 2:Between our intelligence and this artificial intelligence To enhance what we can already do. Exactly To enhance our capabilities, create new possibilities.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And ultimately build a better future for everyone.
Speaker 1:And who knows, maybe along the way we might learn a thing or two about ourselves. Absolutely, that's a great point. This has been an eye-opening deep dive into AI, to say the least.
Speaker 2:It really has.
Speaker 1:I mean we went from demystifying the basics to exploring the mind-blowing potential of AI.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:It seems like the possibilities are limitless.
Speaker 2:Limitless.
Speaker 1:It's incredible what a ride this has been.
Speaker 2:It's a journey.
Speaker 1:It really is and it feels like this journey is just beginning. We're just getting started Just getting started. So as we wrap up this deep dive, we want to leave everyone with something to ponder.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Imagine a world where AI could take over one tedious task in your life.
Speaker 2:Okay, what would you?
Speaker 1:choose. That's where AI could take over one tedious task in your life what would you choose?
Speaker 2:That's a great question.
Speaker 1:What would you do with that newfound time? What would you do with that freedom? It's a question worth thinking about.
Speaker 2:It really is.
Speaker 1:It's a lot to process, going from AI answering customer service calls to composing symphonies. I know right, it's incredible it really is.
Speaker 2:And it feels very much like will ai take over the world yeah, it's a common fear, but honestly, I think, instead of thinking about like this, ai, takeover right, we should really be thinking about how do we adapt to this new world? Okay, how do we thrive alongside?
Speaker 1:it. So how do we do that? How do we adapt and thrive?
Speaker 2:well, first, I think it's important to remember that ai isn't just about replacing jobs.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:While some tasks might become automated, new opportunities are going to come up.
Speaker 1:Right Like who's designing these AI systems.
Speaker 2:Who's?
Speaker 1:building them? Who's maintaining them?
Speaker 2:We're going to need a whole new workforce of AI specialists to manage all of this.
Speaker 1:So that's those jobs. But for the rest of us, what skills are we going to need?
Speaker 2:Well, that's where it gets really interesting, because as AI takes on these more routine tasks, the repetitive things, it's the skills that are uniquely human that are really going to stand out.
Speaker 1:Oh interesting. So like creativity, yes. Critical thinking yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, problem solving.
Speaker 1:Exactly the things that are much harder for AI to replicate.
Speaker 2:Because you can teach a computer to do a lot of things. You can, but you can't necessarily teach it to think outside the box.
Speaker 1:Right and you can't teach it to like come up with these really innovative solutions to new problems.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Or navigate these complex situations where you know human judgment is needed.
Speaker 2:So it's not just about technical skills anymore.
Speaker 1:No, it's about these like really essential human skills that AI can't quite grasp exactly and, honestly, things like empathy, yes, communication, being able to collaborate effectively those interpersonal skills yes, those are gonna be more important than ever, because you can't really automate empathy yeah you yeah, you can't automate good communication, you know, or being able to work really well on a team. So it's almost like this rise of the machines is really pushing us to be more human. I love that. To really lean into what makes us unique.
Speaker 2:Yes, lean into those strengths.
Speaker 1:Which I think is a nice way to look at it.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:It's not us versus them.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:It's this working together.
Speaker 2:It's about finding that synergy.
Speaker 1:The synergy between human and artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2:Exactly To enhance what we can already do, create these new possibilities.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And ultimately, I think, build a better future.
Speaker 1:And who knows, maybe along the way we'll learn a little bit more about ourselves.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I think we will.
Speaker 1:That's a great place to end. Yeah, this has been an incredible deep dive.
Speaker 2:It's been fascinating Into the world of AI. It really has.
Speaker 1:We went from demystifying the very basics to, you know, like I said, exploring the potential.
Speaker 2:It's mind-blowing when you think about it.
Speaker 1:Of where this could go. I mean. It really is the possibilities are limitless.
Speaker 2:They really are.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2:It was my pleasure.
Speaker 1:For this deep dive into AI and thank you everyone out there for listening. We'll catch you next time.