Artificial Intelligence as a Communication Technology
As a mechatronics engineer, I'm particularly interested in artificial intelligence (AI) because it plays such a central role in the smart systems and robotics I work on every day. In the textbook, Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals (18th edition), the chapter on AI by Ching-Hua Chuan defines it as a field in computer science focused on creating hardware and software capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence like reasoning, learning, planning, decision-making, and prediction. The chapter traces its origins to the 1956 Dartmouth workshop led by John McCarthy, and highlights how recent advances in machine learning and vast data availability have driven its current rapid growth.
For me, AI is practical and transformative. I rely on it daily through tools like Cursor to handle large scale coding projects, often generating thousands of lines of code in a single session. It suggests efficient solutions, debugs complex issues, and helps optimize algorithms when programming robot behaviors or control systems. For instance, when developing a robotic arm that needs to adapt to different objects, AI assists by processing sensor inputs in real time and refining the code for smoother, more accurate movements. Beyond coding, I sometimes use AI to structure and format detailed, professional emails that involve technical explanations or project updates, which helps communicate ideas clearly and efficiently.
In the context of information technology, AI connects deeply to communication technologies. It powers things like natural language processing for chat bots, speech recognition in voice assistants, and computer vision for analyzing images or videos. Applications of this can be seen in common household items like the Amazon Alexa I use daily, or the assistant you can find on many websites these days to answer your questions. In robotics, this means smarter, more autonomous systems that can "communicate" with environments, other devices, or people. The chapter on AI in the book also touches on challenges, such as potential biases in training data that could lead to unfair decisions, or broader ethical concerns around privacy and workforce changes. These are important considerations in the realm of communication technology, and they remind me to approach AI thoughtfully in my own work.
I'm currently exploring ways to integrate AI into my projects, including aspects of a custom communication platform built for specific people’s workflows. For my Kickstart project in this class, AI feels like a natural choice. It bridges engineering with communication technology concepts and opens up possibilities for innovative, adaptive systems. Reading the chapter reinforced how AI has evolved from theoretical roots into a core driver of modern tech, and I'm excited to build on that in my own experiments.