ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

(OUR ATTEMPT TO BUILD MODELS OF OURSELF)

“... artificial intelligence [AI] is the

science of making machines do
things that would require
intelligence if done by [humans]”
(Minsky, 1963)
 BRIEF HISTORY OF ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
5th century BC
Aristotle invents syllogistic logic, the first formal deductive reasoning
system.

16th century AD
Rabbi Loew supposedly invents the Golem, an artificial man made out
of clay

17th century
Descartes proposes animals are machines and founds a
scientific paradigm that will dominate for 250 years.
Pascal creates the first mechanical calculator in 1642

18th century
Wolfgang von Kempelen “invents” fake chess-playing machine,
The Turk
19th century
George Boole creates a binary algebra to represent “laws of thought”

Charles Babbage and Lady Lovelace develop sophisticated

programmable mechanical computers, precursor to modern electronic
computers.

20th century
Karel Kapek writes “Rossum’s Universal Robots”, coining the
English word “robot”

Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts lay partial groundwork for

neural networks

Turing writes “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” – proposal

of Turing test
 HISTORIC ATTEMPTS
The original story,
published by
Mary Shelley, in
1818, describes
the attempt of a
true scientist,
Victor
Frankenstein, to
create life.
 PURPOSE OF AI

One is to use the power of computers to augment human

thinking, just as we use motors to augment human or horse
power. Robotics and expert systems are major branches of
that.
The other is to use a computer's artificial intelligence to
understand how humans think. In a humanoid way. If you
test your programs not merely by what they can
accomplish, but how they accomplish it, they you're really
doing cognitive science; you're using AI to understand the
human mind.
• - Herb Simon
ROBOTICS
• 1970 Shakey (SRI) was
driven by a remote-controlled
computer, which formulated
plans for moving and acting. It
took about half an hour to
move Shakey one meter

The Ant, has 17 sensors.

They are designed to
work in colonies.
HUMAN BRAIN
• Most scientists would be happy to view the
brain as a vast but complex machine. As such
it should then be possible to purely replicate
the brain using artificial neurons.
• This has already been done for very simple
life forms such as insects which only have a
few thousand neurons in their brains.
• In principle, it would not be necessary to have
a full scientific understanding of how the brain
works. One would just build a copy of one
using artificial materials and see how it
 LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN MIND
• Object recognition. People cannot properly
explain how they recognise objects.

Face recognition. Cannot be passed on to

another person by explanation.
• Naming of colours. Based on learning, not
on absolute standards.
 HOW DO WE BUILD A MACHINE
THAT CAN IDENTIFY COLOURS
Answer: By building a machine that can learn from human beings.
 Today: Computer as Artist
Two paintings done by Harold Cohen’s Aaron program:
 DIFFICULTIES COMPUTERS
CANNOT YET MODEL
• The machines used in the National Lottery.
• The performance of horses in the Grand National
• The behaviour of a colony of ants.
• Even a simple natural evolutionary milieau.
• Bacterial growth in a human organ.
• Human behaviour.
– Criminal tendencies
– Stock market movements.
– Popularity ratings of politicians, pop stars, etc.
 THE FUTURE?
• Idea of Artificial
Intelligence is being
replaced by Artificial life,
or anything with a form or
body.

• The consensus among

scientists is that a
requirement for life is that
it has an embodiment in
some physical form, but
this will change.
Programs may not fit this
requirement for life yet.