Artificial Intelligence

Introduction:

Artificial intelligence is not entirely unknown to the average individual. AI is depicted through the images of robots and human androids, machines that speak like people, and automatic applications. Some regard AI to be found in our own homes through the Internet and household appliances. AI, whether it surfaces in The Jetsons' maid or in the incredibly realistic David Swinton in Warner Brothers'A.I., is the science of our millennia.

Artificial intelligence is a relatively new science that has only recently emerged as an interdisciplinary study. It is very rarely taught at universities, yet many of the most prestigious schools in America host AI researchers. A clear definition of artificial intelligence is very rarely found, but according to Aaron Sloman, professor at the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, England, it is the study of information. AI is, "the study of how information is acquired, stored, manipulated, extended, used, and transmitted, whether in machines, or humans or other animals" (Sloman, 1998, p. 1) Sloman claims that AI is the science of the manipulation of knowledge, the science that investigates both natural and artificial intelligence. With this definition in mind, it becomes easier to reject the conventional iconography that represents AI and begin to comprehend the magnitude and significance of the science.

History and uses:

In 1956, artificial intelligence was established as a scientific discipline on the theory that machines could simulate human learning and intelligence. The science has three phases of development: the Romantic Period (from 1956 to 1965), the Ice Age (from 1965 to 1980) and the Applications Period (1980 to present). The Romantic period included various mathematical programs that were developed. The Ice age developed programming languages such as LISP and PROLOG. Mathematical and logical models like the Robinson resolution were found. In the Applications period AI techniques in military, industry, and medicine have led the way to further investment in the science.