Artificial intelligence (AI), an interdisciplinary technology that aims to use large data sets (Big Data), appropriate computing power, and specific analytical and decision-making procedures to enable computers to accomplish tasks that approximate human abilities and even exceed them in some respects, is being used to help with the ongoing process of digital transformation.
Search engines, communication platforms, and robots, intelligent traffic-control systems, automated administrative or judicial decision-making, automated vehicle-assistance systems, medical diagnostics and therapy, smart homes, and cyberphysical production systems (Industry 4.0) are all examples of AI applications.
The rise of AI-enabled algorithm-based analytical and decision-making systems allows for new forms of monitoring and behavior control (see Rademacher), as well as new types of criminal activities.
Machine learning techniques are presently dominating AI.
The phrase refers to computer programs that may learn from previous behavior records. Identifying patterns, analyzing and categorizing photos, interpreting language in texts, and automatically making preliminary audio and video edits (e.g., ‘robot journalism') are all examples of how machine learning is employed.
Even more complex AI applications, frequently referred to as 'Deep Learning,' are also feasible.
This is about IT systems that, via the use of neural networks, may learn on their own how to improve digital programs generated by humans and so evolve independently of human programming.
Both threats and possibilities are related with the increase of AI's capabilities and the jobs for which it may be deployed. The next sections will examine at the legal and regulatory issues that AI poses.