When people think of artificial intelligence (AI), the matches of Go between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol in March 2016 come to mind. Memorably, AlphaGo sealed four victories while Lee won just one match.

 AI is being used in a wide range of applications besides games. In August 2016, IBM's AI program Watson studied a number of medical papers and diagnosed a disease of a 60-year-old woman's rare form of leukemia, even suggesting the treatment and helping her get better. Watson also won against a human at an American quiz show.

 AI now helps lawyers' work, having entered law offices. It is even used for music, a domain more commonly associated with creativity. Sony has studied advanced music technology since 1997 and for the first time its AI composed two pieces of music last year. One is a Beatles-style Daddy's Car, and the other is a jazzy song, The Ballad of Mr. Shadow. Both have received positive reviews. Sony plans to release an AI album this year.

 Here is one more application. Pilots fly an airplane for about 10 minutes during take-off and landing, while AI does most of the rest. Furthermore, an AI chip in automobile braking systems can decide when to stop the car or when to apply the brake more precisely than humans.

 We know that water always flows downward although we don't know where water will flow from a large cannon. The development direction of AI is also heading in one direction, despite many different branches, and AI will be the center of human development in 20 years.

 AI technology has become a vital part of our everyday lives due to the boom in AI since the 1990s. AI plays an important role in changing our society. Where research once focused only on smart systems, the aim of AI technology is now to establish a system that we can trust, like human intelligence.

 The three major technological innovations (neural networks, graphics processing units (GPUs), and big data) have brought about great improvements over the past 10 years, and research into combinatorics has made rapid progress.

 First of all, neural networks serve as human cerebrum. Related scientific research fields have made considerable progress over the past 50 years. In Canada, existing simulation processes are being added for an improved outcome. However, this kind of innovation appeared under the name of 'deep learning' 10 years ago.

 The second innovation is applying GPUs. AI was operated only by super computers 10 years ago. That's because only super computers were then able to calculate parallel arithmetic in sufficient quantities. However, members of game industry discovered that a micro-sized GPU chip was able to calculate AI. GPU is a field that companies such as Baidu and Google are investing in heavily. Startups suffering from lack of funds have sought ways to reduce the cost for hardware by utilizing GPUs.

 The third is big data. AlphaGo has defeated several world champions with extensive game databases, deep learning and a brilliant calculation ability. Major global companies such as Google, Baidu, Alibaba, and Facebook have been creating a synergy effect by applying the technologies of big data, neural networks and GPUs. Big data has a huge effect when combined with other technologies, which is why global companies will care about it the most from now on.

 The development of AI thanks to the three major technologies is inspirational, yet more time is needed to commercialize AI as a single technology. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, unveiled Jarvis, a new AI secretary, at the end of last year. Jarvis falls short of voice recognition and interaction, although it does a good job overall. This shortage means something needs to be supplemented in AI development. By overcoming the limitations of hardware, the scope of AI application can be enlarged, which is crucial to unlocking the value of AI technology. We should collapse the boundaries between 'voice' and 'recognition' to reach a high quality of voice recognition.

 While research and application should be considered continuously based on the commercialized techniques mentioned above, we also need to differentiate applications by field.

  1) Transportation：Transportation requires the most delicate approach of fields of AI application. AI should be credited for reliability and safety because it does dangerous jobs on behalf of humans. As we can see in the development processes of Google and Tesla, automated means of transportation will be quickly becoming more common and those with an AI system will weigh heavily on humans.

  2) Robots for home use：Various robots have been supplied to homes for more than 15 years. Further developments in both machinery and AI will increase the safety and reliability of home robots. The robots will be used in our daily lives for parcel service, cleaning office and security maintenance.

 3) Medication ：Medical field is particularly promising for the application of AI. AI has been applied for policy support for clinical trials, patient administration, teaching medical practice, automation equipment system for surgical operations and nursing and healthcare system management.

 Even though it is certain that millions of people's level of health and living condition has increased thanks to AI application in the near future, safety policies and regulations should be secured first.

 4) Education ：With the application of AI for the education field, we can see how much AI has improved. Customized large-scale education has come a long way as AI has been applied to online education systems and university facilities. It has a positive effect, like educating students who suffer from a lack of education. However, personality education requires interactions. We need to think over how we harmonize AI and offline education systems.

 5) Public safety and security maintenance：It has been about 10 years to apply AI technology this field. The scope of application will be expanded from CCTV to monitor potential crimes, drone cameras, crime scene investigations and security maintenance. However, as in any field, there are both advantages and disadvantages at the same time, and thus it is important to gain the public's trust.

 6) Entertainment ：We enjoy various kinds of entertainment through the Internet. We express our individuality by communicating on social media sites such as WeChat and Facebook, experiencing virtual reality in online games such as World of Warcraft, and read all kinds of books with a simple touch using technology such as the Amazon Kindle.

 The development of the Internet has broadened the scope of AI applications. User trends serve as important information when applying AI to the entertainment industry. AI technology should now be equipped to operate entertainment platforms online. For example, Collaborative Filtering Algorithm delivers a detailed demographic analysis and recommendations of movies and music suited to one's taste.

 According to the world-famous science technology columnist Kevin Kelly, the pace of change will be very quick for the next 20 years and the present is in its infancy. So, the present is the most important moment for the creation and innovation of mankind. A new industrial revolution is taking place and the revolution will change our society drastically. Compared to the thunder before a storm, AI currently only like a distant roll of thunder. Therefore, we have plenty of opportunities and today is very much the start of AI history.