Patterns and predictions
How AI spots patterns in examples and uses them to make predictions about new things, with a mango example you can try yourself.
AI finds patterns in data, and uses them to make predictions. A pattern is something that repeats, or things that usually go together. Dark clouds usually come before rain. Traffic is usually heavy at seven in the morning. You notice patterns all the time. Here, each dot is a mango. Going across shows how soft it is, and going up shows how yellow it is. Blue circles are ripe mangoes, and gold squares are unripe. Can you see the pattern? Ripe mangoes are mostly soft and yellow, up in the top right. Unripe ones are firmer and greener, in the bottom left. Now a new mango arrives. It's fairly soft, and fairly yellow. What do you think it is? It falls on the ripe side of the pattern, so the computer predicts, ripe. That's how A I makes predictions. It finds patterns in examples, and uses them on new things.
New word: Prediction
A prediction is a best guess about something new, based on patterns from the past. Weather forecasts are predictions. So is your keyboard guessing your next word.
Predictions are guesses
Predictions can be wrong, because they're guesses. More good, varied examples usually make them better. Unusual cases can fool them. And a confident prediction is still not a certain one.
Quick check
Quick check. Are A I predictions certain, or are they best guesses? Best guesses, based on patterns in the examples the A I learned from. Options: Best guesses based on patterns; Always 100% certain; Completely random; Decided by magic.
Recap
Patterns are things that repeat, or go together. A I finds patterns in examples. It uses those patterns to predict new things. And predictions are guesses, so they can be wrong.
Key points
- A pattern is something that repeats, or things that usually go together.
- AI finds patterns in examples, then uses them to make predictions about new things.
- In the mango example, soft and yellow mangoes were ripe, so a new soft, yellow mango is predicted to be ripe.
- Predictions are best guesses. More good, varied examples make them better, but they can still be wrong.
Try it: Teach the computer
Add examples of each kind, then switch to Test and tap anywhere to see the prediction. Watch how the coloured areas change as you add examples.