Genuis 4U Reviews

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents,"

(who use the term "computational intelligence" as a synonym for artificial intelligence). Other textbooks that define AI this way include , and (who prefer the term "rational agent") and write "The whole-agent view is now widely accepted in the field"

where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success.

This definition, in terms of goals, actions, perception and environment, is due to . Other definitions also include knowledge and learning as additional criteria.

John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956,

Although there is some controversy on this point (see ), McCarthy states unequivocally "I came up with the term" in a c|net interview. (See Getting Machines to Think Like Us.)

defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."See John McCarthy, What is Artificial Intelligence?

The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence?the sapience of Homo sapiens?can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine.

See the Dartmouth proposal, under Philosophy, below.

This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and limits of scientific hubris, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity.

This is a central idea of Pamela McCorduck's Machines That Think. She writes: "I like to think of artificial intelligence as the scientific apotheosis of a venerable cultural tradition." "Artificial intelligence in one form or another is an idea that has pervaded Western intellectual history, a dream in urgent need of being realized." "Our history is full of attempts?nutty, eerie, comical, earnest, legendary and real?to make artificial intelligences, to reproduce what is the essential us?bypassing the ordinary means. Back and forth between myth and reality, our imaginations supplying what our workshops couldn't, we have engaged for a long time in this odd form of self-reproduction." She traces the desire back to its Hellenistic roots and calls it the urge to "forge the Gods."

Artificial intelligence has been the subject of optimism,

The optimism referred to includes the predictions of early AI researchers (see optimism in the history of AI) as well as the ideas of modern transhumanists such as Ray Kurzweil.

but has also suffered setbacks

The "setbacks" referred to include the ALPAC report of 1966, the abandonment of perceptrons in 1970, the the Lighthill Report of 1973 and the collapse of the lisp machine market in 1987.

and, today, has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult problems in computer science.

AI applications widely used behind the scenes:

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AI research is highly technical and specialized, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other.

Pamela writes of "the rough shattering of AI in subfields?vision, natural language, decision theory, genetic algorithms, robotics ... and these with own sub-subfield?that would hardly have anything to say to each other."

Subfields have grown up around particular institutions, the work of individual researchers, the solution of specific problems, longstanding differences of opinion about how AI should be done and the application of widely differing tools. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.

This list of intelligent traits is based on the topics covered by the major AI textbooks, including:

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General intelligence (or "strong AI") is still a long-term goal of (some) research.

General intelligence (strong AI) is discussed in popular introductions to AI:

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