What Is Artificial Intelligence? What is it???

[RaveNBlack 0]

isn't AI simply just a whole bunch of IF, AND, OR commands and rules that govern how the computer approaches any task?

Yeap, on some level you are right. in expert / solution support AI is more or less just a realy big bunch of IF, AND, OR commands, but in neural networks, these comands are used to "train" network only and it doe not use them afterwards, but applies the paterns/schemes/logics it "has learned".

The problem with neural networks is that they can be "trained" to do one (or several, but not a bunch) task only, duo to physical limitations of network size. This problem egzist now, but in a future it can be solved...

[Jyoko 0]

We're using artificial intelligence right now. Our computers.It's weird. Human's have been taking leaps of faith on Earth for 2000 years, yet we are held back. Think about it. We've reached space, the moon, and are trying to go farther. Some people don't accept the fact that we are going to be working on getting to places like Mars for a very long time.Then again, I may be wrong. Back to topic:Humans have learned to make a lot of things, like computers for example. Things like the Internet, which was released not long ago (check date), and we're starting to experience Web 2.0, and http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ domain names. People have made these things from scratch. It's nifty to think about how people coded/made everything we see right now. (assuming your looking at your computer screen)

[RaveNBlack 0]

We're using artificial intelligence right now. Our computers.

I have to disagree with you. Our computers are in fact artificial, but not intelligence by far. Intelligence is far much more that linear data processing at high speed.When I comes to artificial intelligence you have to dig into many disciplines and theories such as psychology, neurology, philosophy, perfectionism, computing, electronics, robotics and so on.

[pixieloo 0]

artificial intelligence.. hmm..it sounds to me like when someone thinks they know something, but they really don't.i have no idea what it means in scientific terms though

[networker 0]

Really, there is no proper form of artificial intelligence.The only 'artificial intelligence' is purely man made.Humans obviously built the plastic molds and microchipsthat make up a computer, and humans programmed it's knowledge.The term artificial intelligence is a contradiction.I guess one could use the tem 'phony inteligence; because thereis no intelligence proper that emits from a lousy little computer box.It's all man made. Theoretically a dog, even a worm is much smarter.They can do things on their own without any help from mankind, and were alsocreated without any help from mankind. Theoretically , a hammer or a saw is just as intelligent as acomputer. Perhaps the term applied usefullness should be used rather than intelligence.

Edited October 25, 2010 by networker (see edit history)

[Vistz 1]

To answer your question, artificial intelligence is exactly what it sounds like. It is something created by a person or group of people in some way to simulate actual intelligence. Intelligence being the thought processes that actual people go through when trying to solve a problem. AI, in its most primal use, is, in my opinion, used in basic games such as Checkers, Connect Four, and even Chess. It is used to come up with a possible move that will result in the computer's win. It is formulated after you make your move. Therefore, it simulates a game played against an actual person. AI has gotten substantially more advanced than just formulating winning game moves.

[Quatrux 4]

Artificial intelligence can be used in most situation, but usually it means that the machine needs to learn by itself and then decide, some projects are accomplished for that, but yet those do simple tasks, but with time it will change.Artificial intelligence can also be algorithms, we usually use AI for a lot of things, for example in games when computer players have AI, a path finder can be an AI to find the best path for you depending on different parameters.It's a term which takes a lot of topics, which one is right which one is not, I don't know.Much more about AI on wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

[AzureMusique 0]

From my understanding, AI is unable to reproduce itself naturally. It is possible, however, to "create" itself if it is given the instructions to do so. It is incapable of emotion (unless further study is done), nor have the ability to have smooth movement control (again, unless further study is done). It may have the ability to analyze like the way adult humans do, and act accordingly on it, but it depends on the programming. It does have the capacity to improve to include new programming, depending on what it is built for. For now, its reasoning is absolute and is unable to create plausible, flexible reasonings. One major difference between biological and artificial life forms is that biological life forms have living cells, the ability to repair itself, divide, and follow a DNA sequence, which can be viewed through a microscope. Most, if not all, biological life forms are made out of carbon. They are prone to genetic errors or defects and have the ability to adapt. They required food and water to sustain energy. For artificial life forms, it cannot repair itself microscopically, unless equipped with nano technology (that itself is feat yet to be made--if needing to repair robots so minuscully). They follow a programming sequence, and their components are made out of metals and probably plastics and are wired from head to toe almost like blood vessels and are less likely prone to errors. However, they may not be so easily adaptable. They require battery/electricity to sustain energy.Of course, if they were to move, it would be robotics. Otherwise, it would depend on the type of usage they were programmed for. It can be chosen to obey their creators or be programmed to move according to their own "judgement".One great example of extremely advanced AI and robotics is none other than Data and his brothers from Star Trek!

Edited November 15, 2010 by AzureMusique (see edit history)

[filmdesire 0]

Well my good people of the world it is something man made,unatural mechenical or in other words artificial etc that has the ability to "think for its self" but its more than just that that seperate our brains from every other organism on earth it is the fact that we can make a thought a discision based on given facts which we logicaly work out in our head and make a logical discision. This is something an animal could never have the brain power to eg. if a monkey saw a loin covered in blood it would not relise that it had just killed something and therefore it is covered in blood unless perhaps it smelt the blood or any other similar circumstance. But for a brain or computer(lets just call it a processing unit because thats what it does, process infomation) to gain artificial intelligence that processing unit must be able to make a certain amount of connections in a given time. Now connections are tiny electrical zaps that travel from one place to another in the processing unit telling it what to do etc Now I dont know the exacts statistics for how many connections a human brain makes in a millisecond but its something like 10 billion I not really sure but the least amount of connections you need to acheive artificial intelligence is something like 2 billion i'm not sure about that either but look it up if you need to.Peace out brothers and bong on!!!
(and I smoke marijuana by the way and im only 15 and I know all this *BLEEP* and read about what I explained about nanotechnology is aswell, hehehe who reckons i'm smart? and yes I really did right this myself from what I know and I didn't copy it!!!!)

As I study computer science and Artificial Intelligence at one of the UK's top institutions, I can tell you that it has more to do with localisation than anything else. Obviously like you said there are many 'connections' or neural links a robot will have to make before it reacts. However this is all programmed, and using very common AI algorithms and search methods, it makes it a whole lot easier.

Localisation is the process whereby a robot will simply move to a location, look around, and find where it is on a map. This theorem cannot however be applied to the Mars Rovers, one of my lecturers worked on this Mars mission himself at NASA. He explained how this search problem was different from regular search algorithms as there is no map.

I recommend you read Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. You fill find that these 'zaps' are not really zaps at all but very careful algorithms and programmed structures. Some structures may overtake one another, i.e. the camera sensor may supersede the touch sensor, maybe because the camera sensor is found to be more accurate.

We program mini-robots and get them to move on a large man made grid to see if they can follow a line, and find the shortest path on a grid using many of the available search algorithms. Right now, I can tell you, as smart as you think people like NASA are, they have not yet developed anything remotely close to human intelligence. Not even the the walking-dog robot which was funded by the military, as it depends on heave machinery and balance mechanisms to balance itself.

I'd say there is a huge amount of computer science knowledge needed to part-take in anything such as robotics. We are having trouble just having to get the robot walk on two legs, or drive in a straight direction regardless of the rocky surface. We want it to balance itself, i.e. know when it needs to readjust behaviors. We need it to find where it is on the map. We may need it to react to its environment, and furthermore if it's going all the way to mars, we may need a power-plan!

As you can see, I've outlined some of the very very basic concepts of AI, the challenges. And remember, Not 'Zaps', just simple programming and behavior architecture coming in to play. A load of sensors on a machine.

[tibrewalalok92 0]

Artifical intelligence in simple words is giving the ability to machines to think & act like human brain does...a simple example of this is the ASIMO robot built by Honda...