Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science that creates intelligent machines that work like humans. Some key activities of AI include speech recognition, learning, planning, and problem solving. John McCarthy is considered the founder of AI. AI has many applications in healthcare, including virtual assistants for unsupervised and supervised learning as well as reinforcement learning. It also has physical applications through medical devices and robots for surgery and care delivery. AI provides benefits like reducing errors, speeding decisions, and assisting humans without emotions or breaks. However, it also has disadvantages like high costs, potential job loss, and an inability to think creatively or feel empathy.