We have already made peace with AI being a necessary part of our daily lives. Rather than be afraid it could make us all jobless, we have gotten used to all the advancements it could give humankind.
That has spawned many valuable situations where AI is increasingly vital, especially in data analysis. But did you know that AI and its subbranch machine learning have unusual uses?
These are the not-so-obvious uses that would have you marveling. If you didn’t know, sit back and let me wow you with some of the most unusual AI use cases.
1. Robotic AI Bees and Plant Pollination
Bees are some of the most significant plant pollinators. Not only does their pollination help food security, but it also sustains the planet and humankind.
However, in the recent past, human activities have been reducing the population of bees, putting the world at risk.
What does Ai have to do with the population of bees? Well, advancements in artificial intelligence have enabled the creation of robot bees to help pollinate plants.
These robotic bees buzz from plant to plant while using GPS data to find and pollinate the plants. The bees also use high-resolution cameras to locate and navigate a specific plant area.
Fascinating, huh?
2. A Rapping Platform for Upcoming Rappers
Humans love pushing the usefulness of something, so they fully exhaust its importance. But can you imagine a platform that allows anyone to become a rapper?
Though we’d want to, few people can rap to save their lives. Instead, we are left to admire the rap genius of Eminem and Jay Z, among other rappers.
But what if there was a platform that could help you write rap lyrics? Enter Deepbeat, an AI rap lyrics generator.
Deepbeat lets you key in a few lyrics, and then the generator predicts the following lines. All easy for someone looking to be the next rap king? Umm, no! The lyrics the AI platform generates aren’t that good. They are what most listeners would call trash music rather than trap music!
It isn’t even to the level of what Eminem would call mumble rap! But there’s time to improve. Soon we could have internationally acclaimed rappers getting their lyrics from an Ai platform.
For now, let Rick Ross and his contemporaries do their thing.
3. Emotion Recognition at Job Interviews
Job interview rooms can be one of the most intimidating places for anyone. Imagine the anxiety and tension palpable in the waiting or interview room.
Amazon and Microsoft have been using that AI technology to tell emotions from people’s faces and determine their feelings.
Now imagine if there was an AI robot that could recognize all your emotions in the interview room and relay them to the interview panel! Makes an already arduous task even harder?
The automatic artificial intelligence system scans people’s faces to weed out applicants who seem disinterested in the process or downright bored.
It determines your interest level by using any tells from your face, such as pursed lips, furrowed brows, or sighs.
If you’re putting on a brave face for the sake of it, then this ‘virtual assistant’ might tell on you! Sigh!
4. Deceptive Robots
Unless you’re the type that believes in conspiracy theories, you wouldn’t expect a robot to lie. But that’s just one of the many things machine learning scientists are trialing.
Researchers at Georgia Tech studied the behavior of birds and squirrels and used it to make robots capable of deception.
Squirrel behavior makes for an interesting analysis. Dr. Arkin and his team learned that squirrels hide food in different places and then lead other squirrels to the wrong hiding place.
That biological discovery inspired the creation of robots that can deceive each other. These robots could be critical for the military in hiding ammunition and other weapons.
But what if they start deceiving humans by hiding all the weapons and destroying us? Okay, that’s too much of a stretch! (Nervously hopes it never happens)
5. AI Beauty Contest Judges
Beauty.ai, an AI company, launched beauty contests where robots were the judges. They sought to prove that data can help someone make an informed choice on whether someone is beautiful.
While beauty might lie in the eyes of the beholder, it lies in the data for these robots. They would show robots selfies of different people.
The robots would then analyze such things as face symmetry, the number of wrinkles, or how fair the skin is.
There were 44 winners, with only one being black. These led to the thought that the “judges were racist.” Want to try the beauty contest? Head to their website, submit a selfie and have a robot judge your looks.
6. AI Toothbrushes
Did you know that even particularly effective teeth brushing still leaves some bacteria in your mouth? That’s what the AI toothbrushes seek to prevent, according to Oral B, a toothbrush manufacturer.
Oral B now has smart toothbrushes that it claims will eliminate the stubborn bacteria in your teeth and mouth. The smart toothbrushes even have an indicator for when you’re brushing too hard or too light.
I haven’t tried these toothbrushes, but I would love to.
7. Flippy the Burger Flipper
Flippy is a robot so named for the work it’s supposed to do: flipping burgers. California tech startup Miso Robotics developed the robot as a kitchen assistant.
Flippy uses artificial intelligence to determine the right time to flip a burger. That ensures well-cooked burgers for everyone. Amazing, right?
The robot was earlier tested in 2018 when it was just a flipper. But it now has more innovations that make it a griller as well.
We’ll see how Flippy changes the restaurant business! It probably has bugger flippers scared! However, it could be a while before the robot becomes available to all restaurants, not forgetting how expensive it is.
See Flippy in action here.
Final Thoughts
Artificial intelligence has been one of humankind’s best discoveries ever made. It is revolutionizing many industries, but still has the potential to change even more.
