Editorial on the Research Topic Fundamentals and Applications of AI: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Machines, computers, and algorithms appear recurrently in the future imagined in science fiction pieces. Terminator’s Skynet, Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000, Psychohistory of Asimov’s Foundation, and Westworld’s Dolores are just a few examples of our collective imaginary of a (days) topic future. Interestingly, the year 2019 has represented the future in some works. Toronto Star in 1983 asked Asimov to predict the future, the world of 2019. This is also the case for Blade Runner, where the action runs in a dystopic LA, in 2019, with replicants having “almost” human cognitive capabilities. Although we have not reached most of the utopian pictures, the growth of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence algorithms is unquestionable (Figure 1). Thus, celebrating the unstoppable advance of AI, we collect in this RT several studies addressing fundaments and applications from a physics perspective.