chapter one

1 Intuition of Artificial Intelligence

 

What you will learn in this chapter:

  • A definition and intuition of what encompasses AI as we know it.
  • Intuition of concepts applicable to artificial intelligence.
  • Different problem types in computer science and AI, and their properties.
  • Overview of the artificial intelligence algorithms discussed in this book.
  • Real-world uses for artificial intelligence.

1.1   What is Artificial Intelligence?

Intelligence is a mystery. Intelligence is a concept that has no agreed upon definition. Philosophers, psychologists, scientists and engineers all have different opinions about what it is and how it emerges. We see intelligence in nature around us such as groups of living creatures working together, and we see intelligence in the way that we think and behave. In general, things that are autonomous yet adaptive are considered to be intelligent. Autonomous means that it does not need to be provided constant instructions; and adaptive means that it can change its behavior as the environment or problem space changes. When we look at living organisms and machines, the core element for operation is data. Visuals that we see are data, sounds we hear are data, measurements about things around us are data. We consume data, process it all, and make decisions – a fundamental understanding of concepts surrounding data is important to understanding artificial intelligence algorithms.

1.1.1   A Definition of Artificial Intelligence

1.1.2   Understanding Data is Core to Understanding AI Algorithms

1.1.3   Algorithms are Instructions as Recipes

1.2   A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence

1.3   Problem Types and Problem-Solving Paradigms

1.3.1   Search Problems – Find a path to a solution

1.3.2   Optimization Problems – Find a good solution

1.3.3   Prediction and Categorization Problems – Learn from patterns in data

1.3.4   Clustering Problems – Identify patterns in data

1.3.5   Deterministic Models

1.3.6   Stochastic / Probabilistic Models

1.4   Intuition of Artificial Intelligence Concepts

1.4.1   Narrow Intelligence – Specific purpose solutions

1.4.2   General Intelligence – Human like solutions

1.4.3   Super Intelligence – The great unknown

1.4.4   Old AI and New AI

1.4.5   Search Algorithms

1.4.6   Biology Inspired Algorithms

1.4.7   Machine Learning Algorithms

1.4.8   Reinforcement Learning Algorithms

1.4.9   Deep Learning Algorithms

1.5   Uses for Artificial Intelligence Algorithms

1.5.1   Agriculture – Optimal Plant Growth

1.5.2   Banking – Fraud Detection

1.5.3   Cyber Security – Attack Detection and Handling

1.5.4   Healthcare – Diagnosis of Patients

1.5.5   Logistics – Routing and Optimization