POTENTIAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

By
Prof. R. Ramesh Reddy
Department of Civil Engineering
University College of Engineering
Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Artificial Intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making

computers act like human beings. In a simple way, the aim of this science is to make
computers think intelligently. This is accomplished by studying how people think when
they are trying to make decisions and to solve problems, breaking those thought
processes down into basic steps, and developing a computer program that solves
problems using those same steps. AI thereby provides a simple and structured approach to
design complex decision making programs.

The credit for the birth or Artificial Intelligence should be given to AM. Turing for his
invention of stored program computer. However, what is commonly thought of as
A11ificialIntelligence began around 1960 when, at MIT, John Mc Carthy, created LISP -
the first Artificial Intelligence research language. The term Artificial Intelligence is
credited to Marvin 1vfinsk-y, also of MIT, who in 1960 wrote a paper entitled Steps
towards Artificial Intelligence. The 1960s were a period of intense optimism over
possibility of making computer think. Another most important A11ificialIntelligence
event was the creation of PROLOG in 1972 by Alain Colemerauer in Marseilles, France.
It had special features when compared to USP like built in database and simpler syntax.
By mid 1970s, computers with large memories were common and computing speeds had
increased dramatically.

Research in A11ificiallntelligence may be classified into several categories as given

below. They are Natural language Processing, Robotics, Cognitive Modelling, Machine
Learning, Expert Systems, Knowledge Based Expert Systems, Genetic Algorithms,
Artificial Neural Networks, Case Based Reasoning and Virtual Reality. Natural
Language Processing is a computer program that lets the user interact with the computer

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through a natural language spoken by people, such as English. Research in natural
language processing may be divided into two categories. The first category is concerned
with understanding the written language i.e., the syntax and semantics of the language.
The second category deals with the spoken language by identifying the various individual
sounds. A natural language processing system should be able to receive input in the
context of natural language, store knowledge in its domain of application, draw
conclusions or inferences from the knowledge base and generate responses.

Robotics is primarily concerned with developing computer software for controlling robot
in a dynamic environment. Robots may be classified in to fixed and mobile robots.
Mobile robots may be wheeled vehicles, robot arms mounted on tracked vehicles such as
a small tank, or with legs. Robots have numerous potential applications in construction
and manufacturing engineering, machine loading and unloading, materials handling (e.g.
packaging), fabrication (e.g. drilling, grinding and application of glues, sealers and
caulking materials), spray painting, spot and arc welding, inspection, testing, and
assembly line applications.

Cognitive modelling is concerned with the development of theories and conceptual

models for the human mind and its problem solving abilities. The research on cognitive
modelling then yield to new problem solving methods, diagnosis and treatment of mental
diseases and even new computer architectures. While the present common computer
architecture has a serial architecture and is fundamentally different from that of the
human brain, there is a renewed interest in exploring new parallel computer architectures
that may eventually simulate the human brain.

The primary focus of researchers involved in the area of machine learning is whether the
computers can learn by themselves or can they be taught to learn. Automatic learning is
identified with true intelligent machines or systems. During the early days of AI., there
was considerable hope of simulating the learning ability of human beings by machines.
The topic was dropped partly due to hardware limitations. But with the recent

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development of powerful super computers and new parallel architectures, machine
learning is again being pursued actively by AI researchers.

Artificial Intelligence researchers started to realize the problem solving ability of humans
lies basically in their Knowledge of a particular domain, and not in the inferential
mechanism they used.

By the end of 1970s several successes, such as knowledge Representation and Problem
Solving, had been achieve in specific areas of Artificial Intelligence. These successes set
the stage for the introduction of first commercial Artificial Intelligence product, the
Expert System. Expert System is an intelligent interactive software that can play the role
of a human expert by using heuristics. Using expertise and heuristics, an expert system
can make educated guesses, recognise promising approaches and avoid blind search and
consequently it can narrow down the search process in a solution space.

Genetic Algorithms are belong to the class of stochastic or random search algorithms.
These are based on the concepts of natural selection and natural genetics i.e. survival of
the fittest theory. A random population of feasible solutions is generated, and each point
is tested for its fitness. They efficiently incorporate information from previous stages to
create new search points in the design space, resulting in an improved performance.

The artificial neural network is a connectionist and parallel distributed model. They
attempt to simulate a very small part of biological natural neural network for better
computation results. They have ability to develop a generalised solution to a problem
from a set of examples, and to continue to development and adapt to changing
circumstances with exposure to new variations to problem.

The paradigm of case-based reasoning originates from psychological models of human

memory structure. The underline concept is that humans use not only hueristic rules to
solve problems, but also refer to solutions of previous similar problems. It involves the

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development of a case memory representation of previously solved problems, which are
retrieved for the solution of similar new problems.

Virtual reality environments with 3D interactive features can be models of real or

imaginary worlds. Their purpose is to represent information through synthetic experience.
Conceptualisation of complex or abstract systems is made possible and their components
as symbols give powerful sensory cues, related in some way in their meaning. Virtual
reality incorporates human aspects engineering that maximizes its impact on scenes and
therefore perception of the individual.

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