Lecture 1 – Introduction: What is Artificial intelligence?
Why study artificial intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence: the big questions
1. Can we build machines that think?
2. Can we build machines that learn?
3. Can we build machines that are more intelligent than us?
4. Can we build machines that are creative?
5. Can we build machines that have emotions?
6. Can we build machines that are conscious?
Killer robots: Experts warn of “third revolution” in warfare
• AI experts warn the United Nations of a third revolution in warfare.
• Fully autonomous weapons that engage targets without human intervention.
“Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever,
and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend”.
How safe can artificial intelligence be?
• Stephen Hawking says, “AI could spell the end of the human race”.
• Elon Musk says its “like summoning the demon”.
On the other hand
• Brett Kennedy (JPL) says “I have first-hand knowledge of how hard it is for us to
make a robot that does much of anything”.
• Alan Winfield (U. of Bristol) says “fears of future super intelligence – robots taking
over the world – are greatly exaggerated”.
•
AI Hype? What about machine learning?
David Harding: founder and CEO of Winton capital, a top 10 hedge fund. Using machine
learning:
- 1980s: started investing
- 1997: $1.6 million in assets
- 2000: $150 million
- 2004: $1 billion
- 2006: $4.8 billion
- 2009: $12.4 billion
- 2017: $28.5 billion
“I think the public debate about AI and machine learning is nine parts hype to one part
substance”. – 2018
Be very, very skeptical
“AI’s record of barefaced public deception is unparalleled in the annals of academic study” –
Theodore Roszak
- AI researchers have been making bold claims since the late 1950s.
- Repeatedly, AI’s progress has been much slower than expected.
- It is easy to imagine full AI, hence easy to convince/scare people.
0
,“The AI problem is one of the hardest sciences has ever undertaken” – Marvin Minsky
1.1 What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence is:
“The science and engineering of making intelligent machines” – John McCarthy
“The science of making machines do things that would require intelligence by men – Marvin
Minsky
“The exciting new effort to make computers think… machine with fill and literal sense “–
John Haugeland
“The art of creating machines that perform functions that require intelligence when
performed by people” – Ray Kurzweil
1.2 What do we mean by “artificial”?
If machine intelligence is artificial, what is “real” intelligence?
- Must “real” intelligence be made from biological stuff?
o This is known as carbon/protoplasm chauvinism
o What if we work out how to evolve biological agents?
- Must “real” intelligence be the product of biological evolution?
o Should nature be the only source of “real” intelligence?
o What if we work out how to evolve biological agents?
So, we seem to mean two things:
- By artificial, we might mean non-biological. Here it is all about the kind of stuff we
use to build an agent
- By artificial, we might mean constructed by humans. Here, it is all about the origin of
the agent, and who designed and built it.
1.3 What do we mean by “intelligence”?
- “Few concepts in psychology have received more devoted attention and few have
resisted classification so thoroughly” – A.S. Reber
- “Intelligence is the computational part of the ability to achieve goals in the world.
Varying kinds and degrees of intelligence occur in people, many animals and some
machines” – John McCarthy (one we going to use in this lectures)
An example? Meet Nigel …
Nigel is: A Neato Robotics Botvac Connected
Nigel is one of the most advanced robot vacuum cleaners on the market:
- Laser range finder
- Bump sensors
- Drop sensors
- Two wheels with elevation control
What is special about Nigel?
- Nigel has a charging station he returns to when his battery drains.
- Nigel doesn’t move randomly; he forms a plan about how to clean.
1
, - Nigel does this by investigating and building a map of the room.
- Is Nigel an example of artificial intelligence? What do you think?
Nigel and the big AI questions
1. Can Nigel think?
2. Can Nigel learn? (he is programmed so, he is using the program but in the different
context in every other room)
3. Is Nigel more intelligent than us? (might be good in one certain field, than humans)
4. Is Nigel creative? (no creativity, sticks with the same software every time)
5. Does Nigel have emotions? (no)
6. Is Nigel conscious? (to the certain degree which he is programmed)
1.4 What is the goal of artificial intelligence?
The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial intelligence (1956)
The first AI “hypothesis”
“Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely
defined that a machine can be made to stimulate it”.
2
,1.5 The rational vs. the psychological
Should the study of AI be guided by the psychological (our understanding of how humans
work), or the rational (our understanding of logic, probability theory, etc.)?
This distinction impacts both on the kind of systems we study, and the kind of behavior we
desire…
3
, 1.6 What does artificial intelligence, as a field of research, look like?
Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science
Why?
- Understanding the mind/brain may be too difficult for a single discipline in isolation.
- Sharing of theories, methods, and results might help us move closer.
- Although often successful, this can be very challenging
What bind these disciplines together?
Cognitivism:
“Researchers in cognitive science seek to understand brain processes as compactional
systems which manipulate representations”. - Kolak et al, 2006
4
Why study artificial intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence: the big questions
1. Can we build machines that think?
2. Can we build machines that learn?
3. Can we build machines that are more intelligent than us?
4. Can we build machines that are creative?
5. Can we build machines that have emotions?
6. Can we build machines that are conscious?
Killer robots: Experts warn of “third revolution” in warfare
• AI experts warn the United Nations of a third revolution in warfare.
• Fully autonomous weapons that engage targets without human intervention.
“Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever,
and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend”.
How safe can artificial intelligence be?
• Stephen Hawking says, “AI could spell the end of the human race”.
• Elon Musk says its “like summoning the demon”.
On the other hand
• Brett Kennedy (JPL) says “I have first-hand knowledge of how hard it is for us to
make a robot that does much of anything”.
• Alan Winfield (U. of Bristol) says “fears of future super intelligence – robots taking
over the world – are greatly exaggerated”.
•
AI Hype? What about machine learning?
David Harding: founder and CEO of Winton capital, a top 10 hedge fund. Using machine
learning:
- 1980s: started investing
- 1997: $1.6 million in assets
- 2000: $150 million
- 2004: $1 billion
- 2006: $4.8 billion
- 2009: $12.4 billion
- 2017: $28.5 billion
“I think the public debate about AI and machine learning is nine parts hype to one part
substance”. – 2018
Be very, very skeptical
“AI’s record of barefaced public deception is unparalleled in the annals of academic study” –
Theodore Roszak
- AI researchers have been making bold claims since the late 1950s.
- Repeatedly, AI’s progress has been much slower than expected.
- It is easy to imagine full AI, hence easy to convince/scare people.
0
,“The AI problem is one of the hardest sciences has ever undertaken” – Marvin Minsky
1.1 What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence is:
“The science and engineering of making intelligent machines” – John McCarthy
“The science of making machines do things that would require intelligence by men – Marvin
Minsky
“The exciting new effort to make computers think… machine with fill and literal sense “–
John Haugeland
“The art of creating machines that perform functions that require intelligence when
performed by people” – Ray Kurzweil
1.2 What do we mean by “artificial”?
If machine intelligence is artificial, what is “real” intelligence?
- Must “real” intelligence be made from biological stuff?
o This is known as carbon/protoplasm chauvinism
o What if we work out how to evolve biological agents?
- Must “real” intelligence be the product of biological evolution?
o Should nature be the only source of “real” intelligence?
o What if we work out how to evolve biological agents?
So, we seem to mean two things:
- By artificial, we might mean non-biological. Here it is all about the kind of stuff we
use to build an agent
- By artificial, we might mean constructed by humans. Here, it is all about the origin of
the agent, and who designed and built it.
1.3 What do we mean by “intelligence”?
- “Few concepts in psychology have received more devoted attention and few have
resisted classification so thoroughly” – A.S. Reber
- “Intelligence is the computational part of the ability to achieve goals in the world.
Varying kinds and degrees of intelligence occur in people, many animals and some
machines” – John McCarthy (one we going to use in this lectures)
An example? Meet Nigel …
Nigel is: A Neato Robotics Botvac Connected
Nigel is one of the most advanced robot vacuum cleaners on the market:
- Laser range finder
- Bump sensors
- Drop sensors
- Two wheels with elevation control
What is special about Nigel?
- Nigel has a charging station he returns to when his battery drains.
- Nigel doesn’t move randomly; he forms a plan about how to clean.
1
, - Nigel does this by investigating and building a map of the room.
- Is Nigel an example of artificial intelligence? What do you think?
Nigel and the big AI questions
1. Can Nigel think?
2. Can Nigel learn? (he is programmed so, he is using the program but in the different
context in every other room)
3. Is Nigel more intelligent than us? (might be good in one certain field, than humans)
4. Is Nigel creative? (no creativity, sticks with the same software every time)
5. Does Nigel have emotions? (no)
6. Is Nigel conscious? (to the certain degree which he is programmed)
1.4 What is the goal of artificial intelligence?
The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial intelligence (1956)
The first AI “hypothesis”
“Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely
defined that a machine can be made to stimulate it”.
2
,1.5 The rational vs. the psychological
Should the study of AI be guided by the psychological (our understanding of how humans
work), or the rational (our understanding of logic, probability theory, etc.)?
This distinction impacts both on the kind of systems we study, and the kind of behavior we
desire…
3
, 1.6 What does artificial intelligence, as a field of research, look like?
Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science
Why?
- Understanding the mind/brain may be too difficult for a single discipline in isolation.
- Sharing of theories, methods, and results might help us move closer.
- Although often successful, this can be very challenging
What bind these disciplines together?
Cognitivism:
“Researchers in cognitive science seek to understand brain processes as compactional
systems which manipulate representations”. - Kolak et al, 2006
4
