Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the study of mental processes through the use of computer models. The name was made when it was the topic of a 1956 Dartmouth Conference by John McCarthy. It is about making computers' decision making and train of thought that seems more human. McCarthy says that is "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."

The idea behind AI is not to make a computer smart by knowing more information. It is to build a machine that can act as if it were smart. Very often, AI is closely connected to mathematical logic, the ability to prove things, and simplifying mathematical formulae. Sometimes, AI is meant to be a simulation of human intelligence, often as a part of research in the area of psychology.

One of the earliest descriptions of AI was the Turing machine. A Turing machine is any machine that takes a set of input data, performs some fixed calculations that must be chosen before the machine runs, and comes out with a predictable output. This machine is the basis of modern computers.

History

Thinking machines and artificial beings appear in Greek myths, such as Talos of Crete, the golden robots of Hephaestus and Pygmalion's Galatea. Human likenesses believed to have intelligence were built in every major civilization: animated statues were worshipped in Egypt and Greece

Other pages

• Fuzzy logic
• Bayesian network
• Neural networks
• Expert systems
• Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
• Ray Kurzweil
• Technological singularity