Introduction to AI
Senior 1 · ICT
Introduction to AI
Lesson 1 of 5
20 min
Your phone suggests the next word as you type. A video app seems to know what you want to watch next. A translation app turns an English sentence into Kinyarwanda in a second. A farmer photographs a sick bean leaf and an app names the disease. None of these programs was given a rule for every possible case. They use artificial intelligence (AI). In this unit you will learn what AI is, where it came from, how it is used, how to use it fairly and safely, and how machines learn.
Compare two programs on the same phone:
The calculator is an ordinary program. The photo app uses AI.
Artificial intelligence is the ability of a computer system to do tasks that normally need human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, recognising images and speech, understanding language and making decisions.
| Characteristic | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Learning | Improves by finding patterns in data | A spam filter gets better after seeing thousands of emails marked as spam |
| Reasoning and decision-making | Weighs information to choose an action | A map app picks the fastest route around a traffic jam |
| Perception | Makes sense of images, sounds and other sensor data | A phone unlocks when it recognises its owner's face |
| Language understanding | Works with human language, written or spoken | A voice assistant answers a spoken question |
| Adapting | Adjusts to new situations and new data | A keyboard learns the words you use most often |
| Humans are better at | Machines are better at |
|---|---|
| Common sense and understanding the situation | Speed: millions of calculations every second |
| Feelings, empathy and moral judgement | Working without tiredness, day and night |
| Creativity and truly new ideas | Handling huge amounts of data at once |
| Learning from only a few examples: a child who has seen two cows recognises the third | Doing the same task in exactly the same way every time |
| Coping with a completely new kind of problem | Spotting tiny patterns that people miss |
Today's AI has no feelings and no real understanding. It finds patterns in data. It can be very good at one task and hopeless at the task next to it.
Tip
The quick test: ask "Did it learn from examples, or was every rule written by a programmer?" Fixed rules only (calculator, light timer, a spreadsheet SUM) = ordinary program. Learned patterns (face unlock, spam filter, translation) = AI.
Which of these uses AI: (a) a torch that switches on when a button is pressed; (b) a phone that turns spoken words into text; (c) a spreadsheet that adds up a column?
Solution: (b). Understanding speech needs a system that has learned from many recordings of voices. (a) and (c) follow fixed rules.
Give the characteristic of AI shown by each: (a) a camera recognises a car's number plate; (b) an app recommends songs after learning what you play most.
Solution: (a) Perception, because it makes sense of an image. (b) Learning (and adapting), because it improves from data about you.
State two things humans do better than today's AI, and two things AI does better than humans.
Solution: Humans: any two of common sense, feelings and empathy, creativity, learning from a few examples, coping with new kinds of problems. AI: any two of speed, working without rest, handling huge data, consistency, spotting tiny patterns.
Mugisha says, "My phone's AI understands me, so it must have feelings." Is he right?
Solution: No. The AI finds patterns in data and produces a likely response; it has no feelings and no real understanding.
Summary
Sources and credits
Facts about Rwanda's National AI Policy are from public announcements of its approval (facts only; no text reused). The comparison tables, worked example and practice items were written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
