Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering Faculty Publications 2015 Potential of Cognitive Computing and Cognitive Systems Ahmed K. Noor Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/msve_fac_pubs Part of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, and the Engineering Commons Repository Citation Noor, Ahmed K., "Potential of Cognitive Computing and Cognitive Systems" (2015). Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering Faculty Publications. 18. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/msve_fac_pubs/18 Original Publication Citation Noor, A. K. (2015). Potential of cognitive computing and cognitive systems. Open Engineering, 5(1), 75-88. doi:10.1515/ eng-2015-0008 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DE GRUYTER OPEN Open Eng. 2015; 5:75–88 Vision Article Open Access Ahmed K. Noor* Potential of Cognitive Computing and Cognitive Systems Abstract: Cognitive computing and cognitive technologies 1 Introduction are game changers for future engineering systems, as well as for engineering practice and training. They are ma- The history of computing can be divided into three eras jor drivers for knowledge automation work, and the cre- ([1, 2], and Figure 1). The first was the tabulating era, with ation of cognitive products with higher levels of intelli- the early 1900 calculators and tabulating machines made gence than current smart products. of mechanical systems, and later made of vacuum tubes. In This paper gives a brief review of cognitive computing the first era the numbers were fed in on punch cards, and and some of the cognitive engineering systems activities. there was no extraction of the data itself. The second era The potential of cognitive technologies is outlined, along was the programmable era of computing, which started with a brief description of future cognitive environments, in the 1940s and ranged from vacuum tubes to micropro- incorporating cognitive assistants - specialized proactive cessors. It consisted of taking processes and putting them intelligent software agents designed to follow and inter- into the machine. Computing was completely controlled act with humans and other cognitive assistants across the by the programming provided to the system. The third era environments. The cognitive assistants engage, individu- is the cognitive computing era, where computing technol- ally or collectively, with humans through a combination ogy represented an intersection between neuroscience, su- of adaptive multimodal interfaces, and advanced visual- percomputing and nanotechnology. ization and navigation techniques. In a little more than a century computing shifted from The realization of future cognitive environments requires numbers to data then from data to knowledge. The shift the development of a cognitive innovation ecosystem for was not about having one system replacing the other but the engineering workforce. The continuously expanding enriching it. Programmable systems enabled the creation major components of the ecosystem include integrated of data by processing numbers, and cognitive computing knowledge discovery and exploitation facilities (incor- allowed making sense of data. Sense is what stands be- porating predictive and prescriptive big data analytics); tween raw data and actionable data. novel cognitive modeling and visual simulation facilities; Cognitive computing has attracted attention since 2011 cognitive multimodal interfaces; and cognitive mobile and when the IBM Watson computer (of the IBM DeepQA wearable devices. The ecosystem will provide timely, en- project) played against two champions of the US game gaging, personalized / collaborative, learning and effec- show Jeopardy and won. Watson was able to respond di- tive decision making. It will stimulate creativity and inno- rectly and precisely to natural language prompts with rele- vation, and prepare the participants to work in future cog- vant responses. It had access to 200 million pages of struc- nitive enterprises and develop new cognitive products of tured and unstructured information consuming four ter- increasing complexity. abytes of disk storage. Keywords: Cognitive computing, Cognitive systems, Cog- Whereas in the programmable era, computers essentially nitive products process a series of ’if then what’ equations, cognitive sys- tems learn, adapt, and ultimately hypothesize and suggest answers. With the advent of big data, which grows larger, DOI 10.1515/eng-2015-0008 Received August 27, 2014; accepted October 29, 2014 faster and more diverse by the day, cognitive computing systems are now used to gain knowledge from data as ex- perience and then generalize what they have learned in new situations ([3] and Figure 2). They unlock the insights that the new wealth of data generated holds. Delivering *Corresponding Author: Ahmed K. Noor: Center for Advanced En- these capabilities will require a fundamental shift in the gineering Environments, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, United way computing progress has been achieved for decades. States, E-mail: [email protected] IcccJ oan+om•I© 2015 Ahmed K. Noor, licensee De Gruyter Open. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. Brought to you by | Old Dominion University Authenticated Download Date | 3/9/18 8:23 PM 76 Ë Ahmed K. Noor DE GRUYTER OPEN Cogolti~ Programmable Systems_ 0 ti ;; I a. '' ~J' E 0 0 Cogn itive Computers Have learning, reasoning , perception, and natural language processing capabilities Figure 1: Three Eras of Computing (based on [1]). 2 Definition and characteristics of erated at a higher rate of speed than the human brain did. Its major asset is being able to accelerate the rate of learn- cognitive computing ing in order to support humans in their work. Cognitive computing and cognitive technologies can be considered 2.1 Definition of Cognitive Computing as the third phases of the AI evolution, from traditional Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Artificial General Intelligence Cognitive computing refers to the development of com- (AGI) to cognitive systems [5]. puter systems modeled after the human brain, which has natural language processing capability, learn from experi- ence, interact with humans in a natural way, and help in 2.2 Relation to Neural networks making decisions based on what it learns [2–4]. All cogni- tive computing systems are learning systems. They incor- Cognitive computing integrates the idea of a neural net- porate embedded data analytics, automated management work, a series of events and experiences which the com- and data-centric architectures in which the storage, mem- puter organizes to make decisions. Neural networks mimic ory, switching and processing are moving ever closer to the the behavior of the human brain. Like the brain, multi- data. Their way of processing massive amounts of data is layered computer networks can gather information and re- neither linear nor deterministic. act to it. They can build up an understanding of what ob- Originally referred to as artificial intelligence, researchers jects look or sound like. They contribute to the computer’s began to use the modern term cognitive computing instead body of knowledge about a situation and allow it to make in the 1990s, to indicate that the science was designed an informed choice, and potentially to work around an ob- to teach computers to think like a human mind, rather stacle or a problem. Researchers argue that the brain is a than developing an artificial system. This type of comput- type of machine, and can therefore potentially be repli- ing integrates technology and biology in an attempt to re- cated. The development of neural networks was a large engineer the brain, one of the most efficient and effective step in this direction. computers on Earth. As the body of knowledge about the brain grows and sci- However, with major advances in cognitive science, re- entists experiment more with cognitive computing, intelli- searchers interested in computer intelligence became en- gent computers are the result. Smart computers which are thused. Deeper biological understanding of how the brain capable of recognizing voice commands and acting upon worked allowed scientists to build computer systems mod- them, for example, are used in many corporate phone sys- eled after the mind, and most importantly to build a com- tems. Cognitive computing is also used in many navigation puter that could integrate past experiences into its system. systems onboard aircraft and boats, and while these sys- Cognitive computing was reborn, with researchers at the tems often cannot handle crises, they can operate the craft turn of the 21st century developing computers which op- under normal conditions. Brought to you by | Old Dominion University Authenticated Download Date | 3/9/18 8:23 PM DE GRUYTER OPEN Potential of Cognitive Computing and Cognitive Systems Ë 77 40 Zettabytes Systems of Sensors. engagement Percentage of uncertain data & Devices Systems Enterprise of record Oat.a Figure 2: Projected Growth of Big Data (based on [1]). At the