If you are still hesitant to use AI and tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Llama still make you a little “scared” about the potential negative effects of AI on today’s society, you should know that in reality it is likely that you are still using AI in your daily life. In this article we will show you 4 AI Technologies We Use Every Day without us realizing it, like streaming content recommendations, navigation apps, search engines, and smartphone cameras.
4 AI Technologies We Use Without Knowing It
1. Content Recommendations
Digital video streaming and music streaming platforms and various social networks use artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze user behavior and preferences, in order to provide Content recommendations that are as close to the users’ tastes as possible. These recommendation systems use machine learning techniques to collect data such as viewing history, searches performed, time spent on certain content and interactions with it (such as “Like” or “Dislike”), in order to suggest relevant content to users in order to make them spend more time on the platform.
There are various types of algorithms. Those collaborative filteringfor example, suggest content based on the preferences of other users with similar tastes, while those defined content-based filteringinstead, suggest similar contents to those that the user has already appreciated, based on the characteristics of the content itself (for example, film genre or musical style). Then there are also the so-called hybrid modelswhich combine different approaches to improve the accuracy of recommendations.
2. Navigation App
We are all now quite “dependent” on navigation app for our travels and perhaps not everyone knows that these massively use AI-based algorithms to optimize routes and provide real-time directions. They do this by analyzing a vast amount of geographic, traffic and behavioral data. Thanks to the analysis of a huge amount of information, the algorithms are then able to select the best route based on various criteria, such as distance, time, traffic conditions and even personal preferences of each user. These technologies make travel safer, reducing travel times and stress and, quite importantly given the historical period in which we live, they can also have a positive impact on the environment by helping to reduce CO emissions2 thanks to more efficient driving.
3. Search Engines
Search Engines How Google uses artificial intelligence to deliver relevant and interesting results to users, anticipating their intentions and continuously improving the accuracy of their answers.
As you might imagine, the algorithms in question are incredibly complex and their exact functioning is usually not made public (among other things to prevent content creators from creating their content by taking into account only search engine positioning factors rather than the needs of web users).
Generally speaking, in the specific case of Google, for example, the algorithm that selects in short fractions of a second the contents to be shown based on the web search made works by going through different phases. The search process on Google begins with the “matching”where a software analyzes the words entered and searches for them on the Web, thanks to a copy of all the sites.
Next, the machine learning algorithm evaluates the meaning of the search, selecting the most relevant results and placing them at the top of the page: this phase is called meaning. In less than half a second, Google presents a wide range of relevant content and the continuously updated algorithm organizes billions of information trying to imitate a human being. search quality ratersexternal experts to Google, then evaluate the quality of the searches based on criteria such as authoritativeness, competence and reliability.
4. Smartphone camera
«3, 2, 1… Cheese!». After pressing the shutter button of the smartphone camera a whole series of AI-based algorithms come into play that improve the output quality of the photos, completely automatically optimizing some settings that make the shots more aesthetically beautiful and pleasing. This is the so-called computational photography.
These algorithms are able to automatically recognize the scene — usually distinguishing between landscape photos, night scenes, etc. — adjusting parameters such as exposure, white balance and color saturation accordingly.
With the advent of smartphones equipped with two or more cameras, the portraits with bokeh (the effect obtained with professional cameras in which the subject in the foreground is in focus and the background is blurred). This is made possible by the fact that AI algorithms, reading the data coming from the cameras, are able to distinguish the background by “detaching” it from the subject and applying a more or less marked blur.
