Page 239 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

13.2 Emerging Technologies 233
13.2.2 Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI; also called machine intelligence or MI) is intelligent
problem-solving behavior displayed by machines in contrast with the natural
intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. In computer science, AI
research focuses on the study of intelligent agents, which are devices that can
perceive a situation or environment and take actions that maximize the chance of
success in attaining a goal, and the goal may be determined by a person or gen-
erated by a system in the case of higher order AI agents. The traditional problem
areas of AI research include problem-solving, complex reasoning, knowledge
extraction and representation, planning, learning new rules and concepts, natural
language processing, and the ability to move and manipulate objects (Russell &
Norvig, 2003).
AI is a branch of computer science that attempts to understand the nature of
intelligent behavior to design and create devices that perform in ways that are
similar to how an informed human would perform in that situation. AI research and
development areas include robotics, spoken language recognition, image recogni-
tion, natural language processing, and expert systems to support decision making
and problem solving. Artificial intelligence can simulate the information process of
human consciousness and thinking. Artificial intelligence is not human intelligence,
but it can think like people, and it may surpass people’s intelligence.

13.2.3 Wearable Devices

Wearable technology refers to computer-based devices that can be worn by users,
taking the form of an accessory such as jewelry, eyewear, or even actual items of
clothing such as shoes or a jacket. The advantage of wearable technology is that it
can easily integrate tools to track sleep, movement, location, and social media
interactions. In the case of Oculus Rift and other VR headsets, wearable devices can
support virtual realities. There are even new classes of devices that are seamlessly
integrated with a user’s everyday life and movements. New smartwatches from
Apple, Garmon, Samsung, Sony, and Pebble are already allowing users to check
e-mails and perform other productive tasks through a small interface. Thanks to the
quantified-self movement, today’s wearables not only track where a person goes,
what a person does, and how much time spent on doing something, but now what a
person’s aspirations are and when or where those can be accomplished. Some
popular wearable devices are bracelets such as Huawei Talk Band 2 (see
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/wearables/talkband-b2/), and Xiaomi Mi Band (see
https://www.wareable.com/xiaomi/xiaomi-mi-band-review;), which track move-
ment, exercise, and other health-related activities. There are tremendous implica-
tions for physical education, nutrition, and health classes in K-12 education.