Artificial Intelligence Overview: Exploring the Evolution and Philosophy of AI

Delve into the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with our comprehensive overview. Learn about AI's definition, its evolution, and the philosophical questions driving its development. Understand how AI aims to replicate human intelligence and the goals behind creating intelligent machines.

Artificial Intelligence - Overview

Since the invention of computers or machines, their capability to perform various tasks has grown exponentially. Over time, humans have enhanced computer systems in terms of their diverse working domains, increasing speed, and reducing size.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of Computer Science aimed at creating intelligent machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. According to John McCarthy, the father of AI, it is “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.”

AI involves making computers, robots, or software think intelligently in a manner similar to the way humans think. This is achieved by studying how the human brain functions in learning, decision-making, and problem-solving, and then applying these findings to develop intelligent software and systems.

Philosophy of AI

The philosophy behind AI is rooted in human curiosity and the question, “Can a machine think and behave like humans do?” The development of AI began with the goal of creating machines that possess similar intelligence to humans.

Goals of AI

  • To Create Expert Systems: Systems that exhibit intelligent behavior, learn, demonstrate, explain, and provide advice to users.
  • To Implement Human Intelligence in Machines: Creating systems that understand, think, learn, and behave like humans.

What Contributes to AI?

AI is an interdisciplinary science that integrates various fields, including Computer Science, Biology, Psychology, Linguistics, Mathematics, and Engineering. The primary focus of AI is developing computer functions associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning, and problem-solving.

Programming Without and With AI

Programming Without AI Programming With AI
A computer program without AI can answer specific questions it is designed to solve. A computer program with AI can answer generic questions it is designed to solve.
Modifications to the program require changes to its structure. AI programs can adapt to new modifications without affecting their structure.
Modifications are not quick and easy, and may affect the program adversely. Modifications are quick and easy.

What is AI Technique?

In the real world, knowledge has some challenging properties:

  • Its volume is immense and often unmanageable.
  • It is not well-organized or well-formatted.
  • It constantly changes.

AI Technique is a method to organize and use knowledge efficiently, ensuring that:

  • It is understandable to the people who provide it.
  • It is easily modifiable to correct errors.
  • It is useful in various situations, even if it is incomplete or inaccurate.

AI techniques improve the execution speed of the complex programs they are equipped with.

Applications of AI

AI is dominant in various fields, including:

  • Gaming: AI plays a crucial role in strategic games like chess, poker, and tic-tac-toe, where machines can evaluate numerous possible positions based on heuristic knowledge.
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP): AI enables interaction with computers that understand natural human language.
  • Expert Systems: Applications that integrate machine, software, and specialized information to provide reasoning and advice.
  • Vision Systems: Systems that understand, interpret, and comprehend visual input on a computer.
  • Speech Recognition: Intelligent systems capable of hearing, understanding, and interpreting human language.
  • Handwriting Recognition: Software that reads handwritten text and converts it into editable text.
  • Intelligent Robots: Robots capable of performing tasks given by humans, learning from mistakes, and adapting to new environments.

History of AI

The history of AI in the 20th century includes significant milestones:

Year Milestone / Innovation
1923 Karel Čapek's play "Rossum's Universal Robots" (RUR) opens in London, first use of the word "robot" in English.
1943 Foundations for neural networks laid.
1945 Isaac Asimov coined the term "Robotics."
1950 Alan Turing introduced the Turing Test and published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Claude Shannon published a detailed analysis of chess playing as a search.
1956 John McCarthy coined the term "Artificial Intelligence." First AI program demonstrated at Carnegie Mellon University.
1958 John McCarthy invents the LISP programming language for AI.
1964 Danny Bobrow's dissertation showed that computers could understand natural language well enough to solve algebra word problems.
1965 Joseph Weizenbaum built ELIZA, an interactive program that carries on a dialogue in English.
1969 Stanford Research Institute developed Shakey, a robot with locomotion, perception, and problem-solving capabilities.
1973 The Assembly Robotics group at Edinburgh University built Freddy, the Famous Scottish Robot, capable of using vision to locate and assemble models.
1979 The first computer-controlled autonomous vehicle, Stanford Cart, was built.
1985 Harold Cohen created and demonstrated the drawing program, Aaron.
1990 Major advances in all areas of AI, including machine learning, case-based reasoning, multi-agent planning, scheduling, data mining, natural language understanding, vision, virtual reality, and games.
1997 The Deep Blue Chess Program beats world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
2000 Interactive robot pets become commercially available. MIT displays Kismet, a robot with a face that expresses emotions. The robot Nomad explores remote regions of Antarctica and locates meteorites.