CS8691/Artificial Intelligence

UNIT I INTRODUCTION 9

Introduction–Definition - Future of Artificial Intelligence – Characteristics of Intelligent Agents–

Typical Intelligent Agents – Problem Solving Approach to Typical AI problems.

Course Outcomes ( C311)

C311.1 - List the Features of Agents and typical AI problems

TEXT BOOK:

S. Russell and P. Norvig, "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach‖, Prentice

 
Hall, Third Edition, 2009.
ORIGIN

“The study is to proceed on the basis of

the conjecture that every aspect of
learning or any other feature of
intelligence can in principle be so
precisely described that a machine can be
made to simulate it.”

- John McCarthy
Dartmouth Conference
(1965)
DEFINITION

A preliminary definition of AI

AI is the study of how to simulate

intelligence on computers.

… But, what is intelligence

anyway?
Intelligence : Definition 1

Aristotle
Intelligence is a state of grasping the
truth, involving reason, concerned with
action about what is good or bad for a
human being … to be able to deliberate
finely about what is good or beneficial
for himself, not about some restricted
area but about living well in general.
Intelligence : Definition 2

Henri Bergson

Intelligence is the faculty of making

artificial objects, especially tools
to make tools.
Intelligence : Definition 3

Robert Sternberg

An intelligent agent is one that

exhibits goal directed
adaptive behaviour.
Intelligence : Definition 4

F Scott Fitzgerald

… intelligence is the ability to hold

opposed ideas in the mind at the
same time, and still retain the ability
to function.
Intelligence : Definition 5

Webstar’s dictionary
The ability to learn or understand
from experience; ability to acquire
and retain knowledge; mental
ability; the ability to respond
quickly and successfully to a new
situation; use of the faculty of
reason in solving problem, directing
conduct, etc effectively.
Multiple Intelligence (Howard
Gardner, 1983)

Every person
has at least
one kind of
intelligence.
So, intelligence is one of those
elementary phenomena that we
recognize easily but find it difficult to
define in clear, unambiguous words.
However, it is obvious that it is a
multidimensional phenomenon.
Different Dimensions of AI

HUMANLY RATIONALLY

T “The exciting new effort to make “The study of mental faculties through
H computers think… machines with mind the use of computational models.”
I …” (Haugeland, 1985) (Charniak & McDernwell, 1985)
N
K “(the automation of) activitiesthat we “The study of the computations that make it
I associate with human thinking, possible to perceive, reason and act.”
N activitiessuch as decision making, (Winston, 1992)
G problem solving, learning.” (Bellman,
1978)

A “The art of creating machines that perform “Computational Intelligence is the study of
C functions that require intelligence when intelligent agents.” (Poole et al, 1998)
T performed by people. (Kurzwell, 1990)
I
N
G “The study of how to make computers “Ai … is concerned with intelligent
do things at which, at the moment, behavior in artifacts.” (Nilsson, 1998)
people are better.” (Rich & Knight,
1991)
Acting humanly: The Turing Test approach
 Turing Test

Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Procedure (Turing Test)

• The interrogator will ask questions to the agents

inside the rooms (through teleprinter).
• The agents in the rooms will answer the questions
(through teleprinter only).
• The computer will try to mimic the responses of a
human being so that the interrogator can not
distinguish it from the human being on the basis
of the answers only.

If, after sufficient questioning, the interrogator fails to

identify the computer from the human, then we say that
the computer has passed the Turing Test.
 The computer would need to possess the following capabilities:

automated reasoning to use the stored information to answer

questions and to draw new conclusions;

natural language processing to enable it to communicate

successfully in English;

knowledge representation to store what it knows or hears;

machine learning to adapt to new circumstances and to detect and

extrapolate patterns.
Thinking humanly:
The cognitive modeling approach
The interdisciplinary field of cognitive science brings together
computer models from AI and experimental techniques from
psychology to construct precise and testable theories of the
human mind.
Thinking rationally: The “laws of thought” approach
These laws of thought were LOGIC supposed to
govern the operation of the mind; their study
initiated the field called logic.
Acting rationally: The rational agent approach
An agent is just something that acts .Of course, all
computer programs do something, but computer agents
are expected to do more: operate autonomously,
perceive their environment, persist over a prolonged
time period, adapt change, and create and pursue goals.
A rational agent is one that acts so as to achieve the
best outcome or, when there is uncertainty, the best
expected outcome.
Category of tasks people do

 Mundane Tasks

 Formal Tasks

 Expert Tasks
A mundane task is one which
requires no conscious effort on
our part.

 Perception : Vision, Speech

 Natural language : Understanding,
Generation,
Translation
 Commonsense reasoning
 Robot control
Formal tasks are those which
involve manipulation of a symbolic
structure with the help of certain
rules & conventions.

 Games : Chess, Tic-tac-toe,

Rubic cube
 Mathematics : Geometry, Logic,
Arithmetic, Algebra
A task that requires study, training,
and experience in some specific
domain of knowledge is called an
expert task.

 Engineering : Design, Planning,

Troubleshooting
 Scientific analysis
 Medical diagnosis / treatment
 Financial analysis
Some areas where AI has been successfully
employed and implemented

 Natural language processing

 Intelligent retrieval from databases
 Expert consulting systems
 Theorem proving
 Robotics
 Automatic programming
 Combinatorial and scheduling problems
 Image processing
 Fuzzy systems
 Neural networks
Issues of Artificial Intelligence
 First Order Predicate Logic (FOPL)
 Other Knowledge representation
techniques, e.g., semantic networks,
conceptual dependency, frames, scripts
 Expert Systems
 State Space Search (Heuristic search)
 Planning
 Natural Language Processing
 Logic Programming
 Symbolic reasoning under uncertainty
 Statistical reasoning
 Fuzzy systems
 Neural networks
 Game playing etc.
What is the necessary
condition for
manifestation of
intelligent behavior ?
Physical Symbol System (Newell &
Simon [1976])
A physical symbol system consists of a set of entities, called
symbols, which are physical patterns that can occur as
components of another type of entity called an expression (or
symbol structure). Thus, a symbol structure is composed of a
number of instances (or tokens) of symbols related in some
physical way (such as one token being next to another). At any
instant of time the system will contain a collection of these
symbol structures. Besides these structures, the system also
contains a collection of processes that operate on
expressions to produce other expressions: processes of
creation, modification, reproduction, and destruction. A
physical symbol system is a machine that produces through
time an evolving collection of symbol structures. Such a
system exists in a world of objects wider than just these
symbolic expressions themselves.
Physical Symbol System Hypothesis

A physical symbol system has the

necessary and sufficient means
for general intelligent action.
AI technique

An AI technique is a method that exploits knowledge

that should be represented in such a way that:

* The knowledge captures generalization

* It can be understood by people who must provide it
* It can be easily modified to correct errors and to
reflect changes in the world and in our world view.
* It can be used in great many situations even if it is
not totally accurate or complete.
* It can be used to narrow the range of possibilities
that must usually be considered.
The most important characteristics
that distinguish an AI system from
a conventional system is its ability
to handle knowledge. In most AI
systems we try to make use of
knowledge in the program itself to
arrive at a solution.
How to know whether a computer
is intelligent or not?
Turing Test
(Alan M Turing, “Computing Machinery and
Intelligence”, Mind, Vol. LIX, No. 236, 1950.)
 Turing Test

Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Procedure (Turing Test)

• The interrogator will ask questions to the agents

inside the rooms (through teleprinter).
• The agents in the rooms will answer the questions
(through teleprinter only).
• The computer will try to mimic the responses of a
human being so that the interrogator can not
distinguish it from the human being on the basis
of the answers only.

If, after sufficient questioning, the interrogator fails to

identify the computer from the human, then we say that
the computer has passed the Turing Test.
Highlights

 Intelligence is a phenomenon which is

multidimensional.
 Artificial Intelligence is the branch of Computer
Science that studies how to make computers think
humanely as well as rationally, and act humanly
as well as rationally.
 The three main categories of human activities are :
Mundane tasks, formal tasks, and expert tasks.
 The physical symbol system hypothesis provided
the necessary and sufficient condition for
intelligent action.
 Turing test gives us an idea in the way to judge
whether a machine is intelligent or not.
Task
s

• 1 A bee-hive is an excellent piece of architectural design. Can the

construction of a bee-hive by the honey-bees be considered as an
intelligent activity? Compare the construction of the bee-hive with the
design and construction of a building by human beings. What is the
essential difference, if any, between the two?