AI Know How

What is AI – Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is the science of creating machines and software that can think, learn, and make decisions in ways that mimic human intelligence. It’s about teaching computers to reason, recognize patterns, understand language, and adapt — not just follow strict instructions.

The general public has actually been using AI for over a decade, often without realising it. One of the earliest widely noticed implementations was Google’s RankBrain algorithm, introduced in 2015, which used machine learning to improve search results. Since then, AI has quietly become an integral part of search engines and many other tools we interact with daily.

How AI Has Evolved

The concept of AI dates back to the 1950s, when pioneers like Alan Turing, John McCarthy, and Marvin Minsky explored whether machines could simulate human reasoning. McCarthy coined the term “Artificial Intelligence” in 1956, at the famous Dartmouth workshop. The field went through waves of optimism and “AI winters” until advances in computing power, big data, and neural networks reignited development in the 2010s.

Early AI relied on logic and rule-based systems — machines that could play chess or solve math problems. The real leap came when computers began learning from data, giving rise to machine learning, followed by deep learning, the technology behind today’s chatbots, image recognition, and voice assistants.

Now, AI powers nearly everything: from self-driving cars and smart assistants to medical diagnostics and creative writing tools — including the very one helping me write this article.

AI in Everyday Life

AI is not limited to search engines. It quietly drives many applications we interact with every day, often without noticing:

Search Engines:

BERT (2018): Analyses context in sentences to provide more accurate results

MUM (2021): Processes text, images, and videos to answer complex queries

Natural Language Processing (NLP): Enables search engines to understand conversational queries and user intent

Other Applications:

Virtual Assistants: Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa use NLP to understand voice commands

Language Translation: Tools like Google Translate enable real-time translations

Image Recognition: AI-powered recognition is used in Google Lens and Facebook’s image tagging

Content Recommendation: AI algorithms suggest content on Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify

These examples illustrate how AI has become deeply integrated into daily life, often operating quietly in the background.

My Personal Experience

I’ve been using OpenAI’s ChatGPT for roughly a year now, and have had about 1,200 chats with it. In my view, while it’s an incredibly useful tool, it’s not replacing me anytime soon. Alongside ChatGPT, I’ve explored Meta AI, Google’s Gemini, X’s Grok, Otter AI, and Claude from Anthropic — each with strengths and quirks, but none possessing the uniquely human spark of intuition, creativity, or conscience.

Was This Article Written by AI?

Honestly, only about 35% of this content was generated by ChatGPT (version GPT-5) during the first draft. After that, I revised, rephrased, and expanded it in my own voice. I also use Grammarly (free version) for quick grammar and spelling corrections — fixing typos, formatting errors, and minor mistakes along the way.

ChatGPT vs Grammarly Free:

ChatGPT (GPT-5): A conversational AI that understands context, generates ideas, adapts tone, and improves over time. It can write essays, poetry, code, or carry on full conversations.

Grammarly Free: A rule-based tool that identifies errors, suggests corrections, and polishes text. It doesn’t understand meaning or context and cannot create content.

In short, Grammarly is a helpful assistant, but ChatGPT is a collaborative thought partner. The more you use it, the more it adapts to your style, letting your personality shine through your writing.

Conclusion

AI isn’t a rival to human creativity — it’s a partner. The tools we use today are only as good as the minds that wield them. The secret lies not in replacing human thought, but enhancing it.

For this article, the total time spent so far is approximately 48 minutes (30 minutes for the initial draft + 18 minutes for this final rewrite), and the percentage of AI input for this second rewrite is now roughly 20%.

Even as AI evolves, it remains a tool — a partner to amplify our thinking, speed, and reach, rather than a replacement for the human spark that drives innovation, insight, and creativity.