AI to AGI: Opportunities, challenges, and the way ahead

By Dr. Gopalakrishnan E. A., Principal, School of Artificial Intelligence & School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidhyapeetham, Bengaluru Campus

Most of us have heard the story of the five blind men and the elephant. Our understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often just as limited and fragmented as the perception each blind man had of the elephant. As American futurist Eliezer Yudkowsky rightly points out, the greatest danger of AI lies in the conclusions people draw about it without truly understanding it.

So, what exactly is AI? According to John McCarthy—considered the father of AI and the person who coined the term Artificial Intelligence—“AI is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.” Today, AI has permeated nearly every aspect of human life, from the arts to economics, healthcare to outer space exploration.

A pressing question that many are curious about is: What is the ...