Automated and Emerging Technologies · 4 question types
Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)
This topic accounts for approximately 4% of your exam marks.
AI applications and machine learning concepts are growing in exam prominence.
The syllabus describes AI through these main characteristics. The first two are present in every AI system; the third is included in many of them:
| Characteristic | What it means |
|---|---|
| Collection of data | An AI system needs large amounts of data to work, together with the rules for using that data |
| Ability to reason | The system can draw conclusions and make decisions from the data and rules available to it |
| Ability to learn and adapt | The system can change its own rules and data in response to new information, improving its behaviour over time. This characteristic is included in many AI systems but is not present in every one |
A useful way to remember them: data (and rules) + reasoning + learning and adapting. Keep reasoning and learning distinct: reasoning is using what the system already has to reach a decision, while learning and adapting is changing what it has for next time.
Common slip: writing "AI is just a robot" or "AI is just a computer program". Neither phrase earns marks. The exam wants the three characteristics named precisely.
Stating a characteristic of an AI system
What comes up: "State one characteristic of an AI system." (1 mark). This appears regularly across papers.
Write: any ONE of these three credited ideas: (1) the system collects and uses large amounts of data; (2) it applies rules (or algorithms) to that data to make decisions; (3) it can learn and adapt its own rules or data from new experience.
Watch out: vague phrases such as "it is clever" or "it uses a computer" score nothing. Name one of the three specific characteristics.