An Introduction to Communication and Artificial Intelligence

Communication and artificial intelligence (AI) are closely related. It is communication - particularly interpersonal conversational interaction - that provides AI with its defining test case and experimental evidence. Likewise, recent developments in AI introduce new challenges and opportunities for communication studies. Technologies such as machine translation of human languages, spoken dialogue systems like Siri, algorithms capable of producing publishable journalistic content, and social robots are all designed to communicate with users in a human-like way.

This timely and original textbook provides educators and students with a much-needed resource, connecting the dots between the science of AI and the discipline of communication studies. Clearly outlining the topic's scope, content and future, the text introduces key issues and debates, highlighting the importance and relevance of AI to communication studies. In lively and accessible prose, David Gunkel provides a new generation with the information, knowledge, and skills necessary to working and living in a world where social interaction is no longer restricted to humans.

The first work of its kind, An Introduction to Communication and Artificial Intelligence is the go-to textbook for students and scholars getting to grips with this crucial interdisciplinary topic.

David Gunkel is Professor of Media Studies at Northern Illinois University.

Auteur
David Gunkel is Professor of Media Studies at Northern Illinois University.

Échantillon de lecture
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Introduction
Key Aims/Objectives

• To investigate the origins and historical development of the technical terms "artificial intelligence" and "robot."
• To understand the important points of contact and crucial differences between the way these technologies have been presented in science fiction and how they actually exist and function in reality.
• To see how and why words matter and that the means by which we say something about technology is not neutral but often shapes what that technology is and can become.
• To provide an overview of the book, its approach to the subject matter, and its content. Introduction

The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) identifies both a scientific field of inquiry and a technology or particular type of technological system or artifact. For most of us, however, perceptions of and expectations for AI come not from the science or the technology, but from fiction - specifically, science fiction, where one-time useful systems and devices like the HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), Colossus (Colossus: The Forbin Project), or Ultron (Avengers: Age of Ultron) turn rogue; enslave humanity in a computer-generated dream world (e.g., the Matrix trilogy); or rise-up against their human creators and stage a revolt (e.g., Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, Bladerunner 2049, Westworld). This first chapter gets things started by sorting science fact from fiction. It looks at the origins of artificial intelligence, the hype that has surrounded the technology and its consequences as portrayed in popular culture, and the reality of machine intelligence as it exists right now in the early twenty-first century. As such, this introductory chapter is designed to demystify AI for a nonspecialist audience, account for the social/cultural/political contexts of its development, and provide readers with a clear understanding of what this book concerning AI and communication is about, what will be addressed in the chapters that follow, and why all of this matters. 1.1 Artificial Intelligence

The term "artificial intelligence" first appeared and was used in the process of organizing a research workshop convened at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH, USA) in the summer of 1956. The initial idea for the meeting originated with John McCarthy, who was, at the time, a young assistant professor of mathematics at Dartmouth. In early 1955, McCarthy began talking with the Rockefeller Foundation (a private philanthropic organization that funds scientific research) about his plans. He eventually teamed up with three other researchers: Marvin Minsky, a cognitive scientist who, along with McCarthy, is credited as the cofounder of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); Nathaniel Rochester, a computer engineer at IBM and lead designer on the IBM 701, the first general purpose, mass-produced computer; and Claude Shannon, the Bell Labs engineer who wrote The Mathematical Theory of Communication, which has supplied the discipline of communication with its basic "sender-message-receiver" process model.

In their proposal, titled "Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence," McCarthy et al. (1955) offered the following explanation about the basic idea and objective of the effort:

We propose that a 2 month, 10 man study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The study is to proceed on the basis of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it. An attempt will be made to find how to make machines use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and im

Contenu
Preface

Part I: Introduction and Orientation
1 Introduction
2 Communication and AI
3 Basic Concepts and Terminology

Part II: Applications
4 Machine Translation
5 Natural Language Processing
6 Computational Creativity
7 Social Robots

Part III: Impact and Consequences
8 Social Issues
9 Social Responsibility and Ethics

Part IV: Maker Exercises
Introduction
Exercise 1 Demystifying ELIZA
Exercise 2 Algorithms
Exercise 3 Machine Translation
Exercise 4 Chatbot and Quasi-Loebner Prize
Exercise 5 Template NLG

Notes
References
Index