This guide is adapted from "Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Students" by Brenda Smith at Thompson Rivers University, which (unless otherwise stated) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Brenda Smith's guide is adapted from "Artificial Intelligence" by Ulrike Kestler, used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to machines, and especially computer systems, doing tasks with human-like intelligence. AI-enabled technologies are used in many different fields such as manufacturing, transportation, medicine, banking, surveillance, and entertainment. You encounter them in daily life in examples like Alexa, Siri, facial recognition on your phone, voice-to-text messaging and autocorrection, getting directions from Google Maps, booking rideshares through Uber, recommendations for movies to watch on Netflix, ads that pop up in Facebook or Instagram that are based on your search histories, online banking, and much more.
For a brief overview of Artificial Intelligence, see the video below.