What is 'automation' in software, and why do organizations use it?

Using software to perform repetitive tasks without human intervention — saving time, reducing errors, and handling scale impossible for humans Replacing all human jobs with robots Writing programs that automatically improve their own code Software that runs automatically when you turn on your computer

What is artificial intelligence (AI) in simple terms?

Software that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, like recognizing images, understanding language, or making decisions A physical robot that thinks and moves like a human Software that is more intelligent than any human in all domains Programs that can rewrite and improve themselves without human help

How does a spam filter use AI to decide which emails are spam?

It was trained on millions of labeled emails (spam vs. not spam) and learned to recognize patterns — specific words, sender patterns, and formatting typical of spam It contains a hand-typed list of every known spam sender and blocks those addresses It asks the email server if each email has been sent before — new emails are flagged It reads the email and determines if a human or a computer wrote it

What is the difference between a 'rule-based' program and a 'machine learning' program?

Rule-based programs follow explicit instructions written by programmers; ML programs learn rules automatically by analyzing large amounts of data Rule-based programs are newer and use AI; ML programs are older and use simple if-else logic Rule-based programs run faster; ML programs are more accurate but slower There is no meaningful difference — both types learn from examples

An AI recommendation system suggests movies you might like. How does it do this?

It finds users with similar watching history to yours and recommends movies they liked that you haven't seen It randomly selects movies from your favorite genre It reads reviews and recommends movies that critics liked It tracks your eye movements to see which movie thumbnails you look at longest

What is a potential problem with AI systems that are trained on biased data?

The AI learns and reinforces the biases in its training data, potentially making unfair decisions at large scale Biased data makes AI slower and more expensive to run AI systems automatically correct for biases in their training data Biased AI only affects the company that built it — not users

What does 'automation' do to jobs in the economy, based on historical evidence?

It tends to eliminate some repetitive jobs while creating new jobs in designing, maintaining, and working alongside automated systems Automation always creates more jobs than it eliminates Automation always eliminates more jobs than it creates, leading to mass unemployment Automation has no effect on jobs — humans are always better than machines

What does 'training data' mean in machine learning?

The large dataset of examples the AI model learns patterns from before being deployed A manual that programmers use to learn how to build AI systems The test questions used to evaluate an AI after it's been built The computing power used during the AI development process

Software shapes society in important ways. Which of the following is the best example of software having an unintended negative consequence?

Social media algorithms maximizing 'engagement' inadvertently amplifying outrage and misinformation because they generate more clicks GPS apps making people better at navigation than previous generations Email allowing people to communicate faster than postal mail Spreadsheets replacing manual accounting and making businesses more accurate

What does it mean when a programmer says their code is 'inefficient'?

The code produces correct results but uses more CPU time or memory than necessary — a better algorithm could do the same job faster or with less resources The code contains errors and gives wrong answers The code was written in an old programming language that modern computers can't run The programmer took too long to write the code — efficiency refers to development speed