In over 100 million homes around the world people wake up and ask, “Alexa, tell me the weather forecast.” For the millions of homes that have installed the Amazon Echo device, artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived and is in use daily. The wide-spread use of AI is an inflection point in the evolution of information technology and understanding the basics of this technology is essential for every area of legal practice.
AI technology has powered much more than table-top entertainment devices. For example, mobile mechanical systems, i.e., mobile robots, are being developed to assist in caring for elderly humans, and autonomous vehicle technology already in use has been shown to reduce accidents. AI is also in current use in less obvious ways that touch the lives of most individuals on a daily basis. Internet search engines, such as Google and Bing, use AI to improve search results. With the help of IBM’s Watson technology, doctors are using AI to improve medical outcomes. The same AI technology assists weather forecasters with predicting when rain will arrive with minute-to-minute accuracy.
