Artificial Intelligence for Beginners (Part1)

Introduction

Artificial intelligence is a fascinating field that is transforming our world in significant ways.

If you’re new to this field, this article is for you !

We’re going to explore the basic concepts of AI using simple terms. First, know and understand the useful words. Then, understand the benefits of AI.

In this first part, we’ll try to explain Artificial Intelligence so that this complex subject is now within your grasp!

I. The essential words to master when talking about AI

1) artificial intelligence :

Artificial intelligence, often abbreviated to AI, is the ability of machines to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. This includes activities such as speaking, thinking, decision-making and translation. In effect, AI simulates human intelligence. This includes systems capable of reasoning, learning and acting autonomously.

For some time now, we’ve been hearing about AI and generative AI or IAGen.

What are the differences?

AI or “classical” AI existed before generative AI and doesn’t have exactly the same uses.

Classical artificial intelligence refers to systems programmed to solve specific problems by following predefined rules. For example, a chess program that uses a set of rules and algorithms to determine the best possible move. What is an algorithm? An algorithm is a set of clear, precise instructions for performing a task or solving a problem.

Whereas generative AI or GenAI is a type of AI capable of creating new content. For example, generative AI can be used to write new content, to generate new images… It uses advanced models to generate results that appear to have been created by humans.

At ALLONIA, we use these 2 forms of AI. In fact, we’ve designed our company to meet the challenges faced by companies and public authorities in carrying out any AI project(s).

For example : using AI to facilitate inspections of nuclear power plants, or in building renovation to accurately analyze areas in need of renovation, but also in tourism to analyze tourist flows. We could cite many different examples with different problems in very different sectors of activity. Because, in fact, classical AI can solve any business problem.

The second form of AI, generative AI, arrived at ALLONIA in June 2023 through a number of partnerships and the progress of LLMs (Large Language Models).

What is an LLM ? An LLM, or Large Language Model, is a type of AI model designed to understand and generate human text. These models are trained on large text datasets and can answer questions, write essays, translate languages and much more.

You’re probably familiar with Mistral AI, Open AI, META AI… they’re all LLMs, and these LLMs are included in our CHAT SECURE tool. Which enables companies and public authorities to use a powerful, secure chatbot or conversational agent to save time in their day-to-day tasks.

How does it work? People log on to our tool, upload their documents, then ask their questions. Answers are instantaneous, just like ChatGPT or Gemini. But what we offer is a model trained on a corpus of documents (Mistral).

The conversational agent responds only to the information contained in the documents loaded, and not to the entire Internet. And we use a sovereign infrastructure (Numspot) that is totally SecNumCloud!

For this to work properly, you need to understand the term : RAG.

RAG, or Retrieval Augmented Generation, is an AI technique that combines text generation and information retrieval. This enables more precise and informative answers to be generated by consulting databases or documents during the text generation process. We use the RAG method in our SECURE CHAT.

We won’t go into detail about our offerings in this article, as you can find everything directly on our website, and of course, don’t hesitate to contact our experts to implement AI in your organization : contact-us

As you may have gathered, a chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate a conversation with human users. Chatbots can answer questions, provide information and even help with online tasks.

2) Words associated with the world of artificial intelligence :

In the word “artificial intelligence”, there’s “intelligence” and “artificial”, and we often hear the term “neural networks”, because that’s what the human brain is made of, and AI also has its own neural networks, inspired by the way the human brain works. These are made up of layers of artificial neurons that connect to each other, enabling the machine to learn and make decisions.

In AI, the term Machine Learning is widely used, but what is it? Machine learning or ML is a sub-field of AI that focuses on creating algorithms that can learn from data without being explicitly programmed. These algorithms can identify patterns, make predictions and take decisions based on the data they have been trained to learn from.

In other words, ML is a powerful tool that can be used to create AI systems, but it is not the only approach to creating artificial intelligence.

You can’t talk about AI without talking about data. And why? Because AI needs vast quantities of data to learn and function. The more data it has, the better AI performs.

Data science, in particular, uses scientific techniques, algorithms and systems to extract knowledge and insights from data. Data scientists use tools such as statistics, machine learning and data to analyze and interpret complex data.

There are many terms and specificities in AI, for example: Predictive AI is a type of artificial intelligence that uses models and historical data to predict future events. For example, predictive AI can anticipate product sales, forecast market trends or even detect equipment breakdowns before they occur.

Conclusion

In this Part 1, we’ve started to give you some important keys to understanding the fundamental basics of AI, while keeping our explanations simple.

The field of AI is evolving rapidly, and we need to learn along with it.

By understanding these basic concepts, you can take a more relaxed approach to AI. And why not, start using it in your everyday life.

Whether you’re simply curious or interested in this field and its challenges, understanding these terms is essential to navigating the world of AI.

We’re preparing a more advanced Part 2 for you, and we’ve also set up an AI DICO where you’ll be able to find all the words related to AI.

And, if you need to set up an AI project in your organization, our experts will be delighted to help you : contact our experts