2. What is an AI system?

AI Systems Embedded in Traditional Systems

Some of the previously mentioned examples are not fully independent AI systems, but AI systems embedded in traditional computer systems, such as AI recommendation systems integrated into streaming services like Netflix. With the increasing prevalence of AI systems, this is a trend many companies are following: they are increasingly embedding AI systems into traditional computer systems to enhance their capabilities.

For example:

  • Bank apps (typically traditional computer systems) are increasingly integrating AI-based systems for anomaly detection into the app's transaction processing to block or flag suspicious payments before they are completed.

  • E-commerce companies are increasingly integrating conversational AI systems to summarize product details, for example, and can also embed recommendation systems to suggest products that users might like.

  • Autonomous vacuum cleaners are increasingly equipped with AI recognition systems to detect objects while cleaning the house.

So when we use a system, we can analyze whether it potentially contains embedded AI systems.

The collage shows multiple repeated tabs with the words "people who liked this also liked...". In the middle, there is a painting of a woman feeding a goat. The goat has been highlighted in a yellow bounding box. The background is a painted nature scene.

Dominika Čupková & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

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Optional Task: Do you have examples of systems into which AI systems have been recently integrated? These can be systems that you personally use or have read or heard about.