Chapter 1: History of AI


In this initial chapter, we'll begin with a short discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) and a brief history of modern AI. Some of the more prominent researchers will also be discussed, identifying their contributions to the field. Finally, the structure of the book is provided at the end of this chapter, identifying the methods and techniques detailed within this text.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence is the process of creating machines that can act in a manner that could be considered by humans to be intelligent . This could be exhibiting human characteristics, or much simpler behaviors such as the ability to survive in dynamic environments.

To some, the result of this process is to gain a better understanding of ourselves . To others, it will be the base from which we engineer systems that act intelligently. In either case, AI has the potential to change our world like no other technology.

In its infancy, researchers of AI over- promised and under-delivered. The development of intelligent systems in the early days was seen as a goal just in reach, though this never materialized. Today, the claims of AI are much more practical. AI has been divided into branches, each with different goals and applications.

The problem with AI is that technologies that are researched under the umbrella of AI become common once they're introduced into mainstream products and become standard tools. For example, building a machine that could understand human speech was once considered an AI task. Now the process that includes technologies such as neural networks and Hidden Markov Models are commonplace. It's no longer considered AI. Rodney Brooks describes this as "the AI effect." Once an AI technology becomes utilized, it's no longer AI. For this reason, the AI acronym has also been coined "Almost Implemented," as once it's done it's no longer magic, it's just common practice.




Visual Basic Developer
Visual Basic Developers Guide to ASP and IIS: Build Powerful Server-Side Web Applications with Visual Basic. (Visual Basic Developers Guides)
ISBN: 0782125573
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 1999
Pages: 175

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