Ch1: Alexa! Play Vishnusahasranamam (an intro to AI ML)

Meenu entered the house, a box under her arm. "Hi Amma! Look what I brought home!" she said, unpacking it enthusiastically.

"What's that?" Amma asked, peering over.

"It's Alexa, Amma. Now, we can operate the whole house with this," Meenu explained as she began setting up the device.

"Alexa! Turn on the lights. Turn off the lights," Meenu commanded. Amma watched in amazement as the lights responded to Meenu’s voice.

"Meenu, how is this working?" Amma inquired.

"It's all the magic of AI, Amma," Meenu replied with a smile.

"What's AI?" Amma asked.

"I'll explain, but first, watch this," Meenu said, changing her tone. "Alexa, what’s the weather like tomorrow?"

"I can hear that you might be having a tough day," Alexa responded. "The weather tomorrow will be sunny with a high of 75 degrees. Maybe some sunshine will help brighten things up."

Amma was shocked. "How did it recognize that you are feeling down? Is anyone watching us? Are there cameras around?"

"No, Amma, it understood my mood based on my voice modulation," Meenu explained.

"And how is that possible? Can it guess my mood too and play a song to brighten me up?" Amma asked.

"Yes, Amma, it can. It has Artificial Intelligence, or AI. It detects our moods based on our voice, and the more we interact, the more it learns about our daily routines and behaviors," Meenu explained.

"You mean like Rajnikanth, Chitti the robot?" Amma asked.

"Yes! Exactly like Chitti!" Meenu affirmed.

"So, what is Artificial Intelligence?" Amma pressed for an explanation.

"Alexa isn't human, so it doesn't have a brain like us. We give it Artificial Intelligence so it can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. When we spoke just now, Alexa used sentiment analysis, NLP, and machine learning to understand our conversation and even added a message to brighten our mood," Meenu said.

"Are AI and Machine Learning different?" Amma asked.

"ML is part of AI. AI is a broad field that includes many techniques, one of which is machine learning. AI refers to the system that enables Alexa to understand and respond to human emotions, integrating speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning models. Machine Learning is a specific technique used to train models on large datasets to recognize patterns and make predictions," Meenu clarified.

"How does Machine Learning actually work?" Amma asked, intrigued.

"It's been a long day. I'll explain more tomorrow," Meenu said, feeling tired. "Alexa! Can you set the alarm for 6 am?"

"Sure, setting the alarm for 6 am," Alexa confirmed.

"Alexa! Play Vishnu Sahasranamam every morning," Amma requested.

"Playing Vishnu Sahasranamam every day after the alarm," Alexa complied.

"Nice way to use Alexa!" Meenu laughed.

With their new companion, Meenu went to sleep, leaving Alexa to fill the silence of the night.