Introduction To Artificial Intelligence

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

One answer: A field that focuses on developing techniques to enable computer systems to perform activities that are considered intelligent (in humans and other animals).

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

Another answer: "It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence.

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

"Intelligence is the computational part of the ability to achieve goals in the world." - J. McCarthy

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

"AI can be defined as the attempt to get real machines to behave like the ones in the movies."

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

. It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence--- John McCarthy, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

AI is inherently a multi-disciplinary field. Although it is most commonly viewed as a subfield of computer science, and draws upon work in algorithms, databases, and theoretical computer science, AI also has close connections to the neurosciences, cognitive science and cognitive psychology, mathematical logic, and engineering. --- IBM Research

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

AI is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. Webopedia

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

AI is the capacity of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot device to perform tasks commonly associated with the higher intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience.

Now

What is Real Intelligence?

What is Intelligence?

the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience Ability to acquire, retrieve, and use knowledge in a meaningful way; to understand concrete and abstract ideas; and to comprehend relationships among objects and ideas.

What is Intelligence?

Intelligence is the product resulting from the collection, evaluation, analysis, integration, and interpretation of all available information

What is Intelligence?

The capacity to acquire knowledge and the skilled use of reason; the ability to comprehend. Ability to deal with abstract concepts and form complex pictures of the outside world. Creativity, ability with spoken and written language etc.

What is Intelligence?

the ability to perceive, pose and resolve problems. The accumulation of experiences together with the knowing as to how these experiences are connected The ability of a system to use general information to respond appropriately to specific events.

What is Intelligence?

The relative ability of the brain to acquire, store, retrieve, and process information.

intelligence is that wonderfully elusive state of being where you get to make "sense" of the things around you I think that intelligence is evolving, always changing, always progressing, never ending, dynamic, explosive, powerful.

What is Intelligence?

Intelligence connects perception of the environment to action appropriate for the goals of the organism. Intelligence is computation in the service of life, just as metabolism is chemistry in the service of life. Intelligence does not imply perfect understanding; every intelligent being has limited perception, memory, and computation.

Our argument towards the definition of AI

"Making computational models of human behavior". Programs that behave (externally) like humans Another way is to make computational models of human thought processes. Programs that operate (internally) the way humans do Since we believe that humans are intelligent, therefore models of intelligent behavior and the models of thought process must be AI.

Our Definitions of AI

AI is a Science of making intelligent machines. AI is an art of making intelligent machines. AI is the discipline of knowledge that making machines exhibit human like (intelligent) behavior.

BUT, What actually is AI?

AI

seeks to understand the computations required for intelligent behavior and to produce computer systems that exhibit intelligence. Aspects of intelligence studied by AI include perception, motor control, communication using human languages, reasoning, planning, learning, and memory.

BUT, What actually is AI?

We can not define AI well, because We lack a good definition of Intelligence Whats considered AI research is very broad and continues to change

Generally AI is defined as

Ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations; the skilled use of knowledge [Webster] Ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests) [Webster] Ability to acquire, analyze, understand and creatively apply the knowledge Ability to reason (think) and intelligently handle (behave) information.

What is an Artificial Intelligence?

Four Categories of Systemic Definitions

1. 2. 3. 4. Think like humans Act like humans Think rationally Act rationally

Building systems that think like humans

Machines with minds Automate human thinking

How do we do this? Develop a precise theory of mind, through experimentation and introspection, then write a computer program that implements it.

How do we know when we've got it right?

Present a problem to both humans and computer Trace the steps both follow to obtain their answers Compare the results

Building systems that act like humans

Doing things that (we think) require intelligence Doing things that humans presently do better than computers

How do we do this?

Implement all cognitive tasks Cognitive tasks include:

Natural language processing (for communication) Knowledge representation (to store information) Automated reasoning (to answer questions) Machine learning (to adapt) Computer vision (for perception) Robotics (to manipulate things)

How do we know when we've got it right?

Write programs that perform `all' cognitive tasks See if the computer can fool an interrogator The Turing Test as an example

The Turing Test

Turing said that we could tell when ``intelligence'' had been achieved when a computer could fool an interrogator into thinking that the computer is a human. Turing suggested using a teletype for interaction between interrogator and subject; later suggestions include use of video signal to test perception/manipulation as well.

Building systems that think rationally

Capture ``correct'' reasoning processes Strategies for complex problem solving

A loose definition of rational thinking:

Irrefutable reasoning process

How do we do this?

Develop a formal model of reasoning (formal logic) that ``always'' leads to the ``right'' answer Implement this model.

How do we know when we've got it right?

When we can prove that the results of the programmed reasoning are correct

Building systems that act rationally

Emulate intelligent behavior Act so that desired goals are achieved

How do we do this?

Figure out how to make correct decisions, which sometimes means thinking rationally and other times means having rational reflexes Implement Turing test ``cognitive skills'' to perceive and act

How do we know when we've got it right?

When goals are achieved

Artificial Intelligence Scientific Goals:

Understand the working of the mind in mechanistic terms, just as medical science seeks to understand the working of the body in mechanistic terms. Understand intelligent thought processes, including perception, motor control, Communication using human languages, reasoning, planning, learning, and memory.

Artificial Intelligence Scientific Goals:

An operational definition of intelligence: ``How can an organism with limited sensory and computational abilities understand its environment well enough for it to act appropriately?'' Example: What would it take to build a successful autonomous robot vehicle with roughly the level of intelligence of a rabbit?

A.I. as Engineering
How can we make computer-based systems more intelligent?

In practical terms, intelligence means: Ability to automatically perform tasks that currently require human operators. More autonomy in computer systems; less requirement for human intervention or monitoring. Flexibility in dealing with variability in the environment in an appropriate manner. Systems that are easier to use: able to understand what the user wants from limited instructions. Systems that can improve their performance by learning from experience.

Areas of Artificial Intelligence

Perception

Robotics Natural Language Processing

Machine vision Speech understanding Tactile sensation

Planning Expert Systems Machine Learning Theorem Proving Symbolic Mathematics Game Playing

Natural Language Understanding Language Generation Machine Translation

Areas of AI (Perception)

Machine Vision: It is easy to interface a TV camera to a computer and get an image into memory; the problem is understanding what the image represents. Vision takes lots of computation; in humans, roughly 10% of all calories consumed are burned in vision computation.

Areas of AI (Perception)

Speech Understanding: Speech understanding is available now on PC's. These systems must be trained for the individual user and require pauses between words. Understanding continuous speech with a larger vocabulary is harder.

Areas of AI (Perception)

Tactile Sensation: Limited development to date. Important for robot assembly tasks

Areas of AI (Robotics)

Although industrial robots to date have been expensive, robot hardware can be cheap: Radio Shack sells a working robot arm and hand for $14.95. Therefore, the limiting factor in application of robotics is not the cost of the robot hardware itself. What is needed is perception and intelligence to tell robot effectors what to do; ``blind'' robots are limited to very well-structured tasks (like spray painting car bodies).

Areas of AI (Natural Language Processing)

Natural Language Understanding: Natural languages are human languages such as English. Making computers understand English allows nonprogrammers to use them with little training. Applications in limited areas (such as access to data bases) are feasible today.

Areas of AI (Natural Language Processing)

Natural Language Generation: Much easier than NL understanding. Can be an inexpensive output device.

Areas of AI (Natural Language Processing)

Machine Translation: Translation of specialized text (such as electronics repair manuals, military messages) is feasible now. Important for organizations that operate in many countries.

Areas of AI (Planning)

Planning attempts to order the application of resources to achieve goals. Planning applications include logistics, manufacturing scheduling, planning steps in manufacturing to construct a desired product.

Areas of AI (Expert Systems)

Expert Systems attempt to capture the knowledge of a human expert and make it available through a computer program. There have been many successful and economically valuable applications of expert systems.

Areas of AI (Expert Systems)

Benefits: Reducing skill level needed to operate complex devices. Diagnostic advice for device repair. Interpretation of complex data. ``Cloning'' of scarce expertise. Capturing knowledge of expert who is about to retire. Combining knowledge of multiple experts. Intelligent training.

Areas of AI (Theorem Proving)

Proving mathematical theorems might seem to be mainly of academic interest. However, many practical problems can be cast in terms of theorems. A general theorem prover can therefore be widely applicable. Example: Automatic construction of compiler code generators from a description of a CPU's instruction set.

Areas of AI (Symbolic

Mathematics)

Symbolic mathematics refers to manipulation of formulas, rather than doing arithmetic on numeric values. Examples: Differential Calculus Integral Calculus Algebra Symbolic manipulation is often used in conjunction with ordinary scientific computation as a generator of programs used to actually do the calculations. Symbolic manipulation programs will be an important component of scientific and engineering workstations.

Areas of AI (Game Playing)

Games are good vehicles for research because they are well formalized, small, and self-contained. They are therefore easily programmed. Games can be good models of competitive situations, so principles discovered in game-playing programs may be applicable to practical problems.

Characteristics of A.I. Programs

Symbolic Reasoning: reasoning about objects represented by symbols, and their properties and relationships, rather than numerical calculations. Knowledge: General principles are stored in the program and used for reasoning about novel situations. Search: a ``weak method'' for finding a solution to a problem when no direct method exists. Problem: combinatoric explosion of possibilities. Flexible Control Structure: Direction of processing can be changed by changing facts in the environment.

Symbolic Processing

Traditional computer programs primarily process numerical data. However, most of the reasoning that people do is nonnumerical. AI programs often do some numerical calculation, but primarily do symbolic processing: reasoning about symbols that represent objects and relationships in the real world.

Symbolic Representation

A.I. programs primarily use symbolic representations: collections of symbols that represent: Objects. Properties of objects. Relationships among objects. Rules about classes of objects.

Knowledge Representation

It is necessary to represent the computer's knowledge of the world by some kind of data structures in the machine's memory. Traditional computer programs deal with large amounts of data that are structured in simple and uniform ways. A.I. programs need to deal with complex relationships, reflecting the complexity of the real world.

Knowledge Representation

Several kinds of knowledge need to be represented: Factual Data: Known facts about the world. General Principles: For example, ``Every vehicle requires fuel.'' Hypothetical Data: The computer must consider hypotheticals in order to reason about the effects of actions being contemplated.

Logic

Facts can also be represented in a logical formalism. In principle, logic and semantic network representations can be equivalent, though in practice they often are not.

Logic

Mathematical logic formalizes certain kinds of reasoning in terms of operations on mathematical formulas. It is important for people working in A.I. to know logic for several reasons: Theory: Logic has a sound mathematical foundation; things can be proved about it. Applications: For certain classes of applications (e.g., proving correctness of programs) logic is the representation of choice. Comparison with Other Methods: Other representation methods are often reducible to logic. Knowing logic helps in understanding other methods and may help prevent reinvention of old techniques.

A.I. is the Future of Computing!

Moore's Law predicts that computation will get faster/cheaper by a factor of 2 every 1.5 years; this means a factor of 1000 in 15 years. What will we do with all that cheap computation? Traditional applications of computers (with a few exceptions, such as large simulations) will not absorb enough additional computing power to make them major growth areas.

A.I. is the Future of Computing!

In the past, computation was scarce and manufacturers could just sell cycles. Now that cycles are cheap, ease of use is a major selling criterion.

A.I. is the Future of Computing!

Integration of computers with sensors and effectors will be common and essential for competitive position in many markets.

A.I. is the Future of Computing!

Consumer markets will not be similar to existing computer applications, but will require intelligence to deal with poorly structured tasks (such as cleaning the house).

Outlook for A.I.

A.I. has a long way to go. It may be decades before any computer is as intelligent as a human.

Outlook for A.I.

A.I. is not magic. A.I. will eventually be able to do the kinds of intelligent information processing that people do, and probably some that people can't do; but it will be limited by availability of data, finite knowledge, and finite processing power.

Outlook for A.I.

No single discovery will suffice. Real A.I. will require many research breakthroughs.

Outlook for A.I.

A.I. will continue to advance. Progress has been made, and continues to be made; the outlook, as in most disciplines, is for continued progress but no sudden and final success.

Outlook for A.I.

Useful applications of A.I. are feasible now. Major corporations have saved tens of millions of dollars using A.I.

Outlook for A.I.

A.I. can enhance human performance. The best overall system will often be a combination of A.I. programs and humans.

Predictions and Reality (1/3)

In the 60s, a famous AI professor from MIT said: At the end of the summer, we will have developed an electronic eye As of 2004, there is still no general computer vision system capable of understanding complex dynamic scenes But computer systems routinely perform road traffic monitoring, facial recognition, medical image analysis, part inspection, motion capture,

Predictions and Reality (2/3)

In 1958, Herbert Simon predicted that within 10 years a computer would be Chess champion This prediction became true in 1998 Today, computers have won over world champions in several games, including Checkers, Othello, and Chess. AI techniques (search, planning, probabilistic reasoning) are used in many video games

Predictions and Reality (3/3)

In the 70s, many believed that computercontrolled robots would soon be everywhere from manufacturing plants to home Today, some industries (automobile, electronics) are highly robotized, but home robots are still a thing of the future But robots have rolled (are rolling) on Mars, fly autonomously, while others perform brain and heart surgery and humanoid robots are available for rent

Goals of AI

Replicate human intelligence

"AI is the study of complex information processing problems that often have their roots in some aspect of biological information processing. The goal of the subject is to identify solvable and interesting information processing problems, and solve them." -David Marr

Goals of AI

Solve knowledge-intensive tasks

"AI is the design, study and construction of computer programs that behave intelligently." -- Tom Dean

Goals of AI

Intelligent connection of perception and action

AI not centered around representation of the world, but around action in the world. Behavior-based intelligence.

Goals of AI

Enhance human-human, human-computer and computer-computer interaction/communication

Computer can sense and recognize its users, see and recognize its environment, respond visually and audibly to stimuli. New paradigms for interacting productively with computers using speech, vision, natural language, 3D virtual reality, 3D displays, more natural and powerful user interfaces, etc.

Examples of Expert Systems

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Diagnostic Systems Microsoft Office Assistant in Office 97 provides customized help by decision-theoretic reasoning about an individual user. MYCIN system for diagnosing bacterial infections of the blood and suggesting treatments. Intellipath pathology diagnosis system (AMA approved). Pathfinder medical diagnosis system, which suggests tests and makes diagnoses. Whirlpool customer assistance center.

Examples of Expert Systems

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System Configuration DEC's XCON system for custom hardware configuration. Radiotherapy treatment planning.

Examples of Expert Systems

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Financial Decision Making Credit card companies, mortgage companies, banks, and the U.S. government employ AI systems to detect fraud and expedite financial transactions. For example, AMEX credit check. Systems often use learning algorithms to construct profiles of customer usage patterns, and then use these profiles to detect unusual patterns and take appropriate action.

Examples of Expert Systems

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Classification Systems Put information into one of a fixed set of categories using several sources of information. E.g., financial decision making systems. NASA developed a system for classifying very faint areas in astronomical images into either stars or galaxies with very high accuracy by learning from human experts' classifications.

Some AI "Grand Challenge" Problems

Translating telephone Accident-avoiding car Aids for the disabled Intelligent agents that monitor and manage information by filtering, digesting, abstracting Tutors Self-organizing systems, e.g., that learn to assemble something by observing a human do it.

A Framework for Building AI Systems

Perception Intelligent biological systems are physically embodied in the world and experience the world through their sensors (senses). For an autonomous vehicle, input might be images from a camera and range information from a rangefinder. For a medical diagnosis system, perception is the set of symptoms and test results that have been obtained and input to the system manually. Includes areas of vision, speech processing, natural language processing, and signal processing (e.g., market data and acoustic data).

A Framework for Building AI Systems

Reasoning Inference, decision-making, classification from what is sensed and what the internal "model" is of the world. Might be a neural network, logical deduction system, Hidden Markov Model induction, heuristic searching a problem space, Bayes Network inference, genetic algorithms, etc. Includes areas of knowledge representation, problem solving, decision theory, planning, game theory, machine learning, uncertainty reasoning, etc.

A Framework for Building AI Systems

Action Biological systems interact within their environment by actuation, speech, etc. All behavior is centered around actions in the world. Examples include controlling the steering of a Mars rover or autonomous vehicle, or suggesting tests and making diagnoses for a medical diagnosis system. Includes areas of robot actuation, natural language generation, and speech synthesis.

Some Fundamental Issues for Most AI Problems

Representation Facts about the world have to be represented in some way, e.g., mathematical logic is one language that is used in AI. Deals with the questions of what to represent and how to represent it. How to structure knowledge? What is explicit, and what must be inferred? How to encode "rules" for inferencing so as to find information that is only implicitly known? How to deal with incomplete, inconsistent, and probabilistic knowledge? Epistemology issues (what kinds of knowledge are required to solve problems). Example: Given 17 sticks in 3 x 2 grid, remove 5 sticks to leave exactly 3 squares.

Some Fundamental Issues for Most AI Problems

Search Many tasks can be viewed as searching a very large problem space for a solution. For example, Checkers has about 1040 states, and Chess has about 10120 states in a typical games. Use of heuristics (meaning "serving to aid discovery") and constraints.

Some Fundamental Issues for Most AI Problems

Inference From some facts others can be inferred. Related to search. For example, knowing "All elephants have trunks" and "Clyde is an elephant," can we answer the question "Does Clyde hae a trunk?" What about "Peanuts has a trunk, is it an elephant?" Or "Peanuts lives in a tree and has a trunk, is it an elephant?" Deduction, abduction, reasoning under uncertainty.

Some Fundamental Issues for Most AI Problems

Learning Inductive inference, neural networks, genetic algorithms, artificial life, evolutionary approaches.

Some Fundamental Issues for Most AI Problems

Planning Starting with general facts about the world, facts about the effects of basic actions, facts about a particular situation, and a statement of a goal, generate a strategy for achieving that goals in terms of a sequence of primitive steps or actions.

End of Session