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From: wood@jfred.siemens.edu (Jim Wood)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: What AI is exactly.
Message-ID: <38801@siemens.siemens.com>
Date: 6 Sep 90 14:43:37 GMT
References: <34175@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <25392@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <3797@se-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <3543@gara.une.oz.au>
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I originally wrote:

>>    Artificial Intelligence is a computer science and engineering
>>    discipline which attempts to model human reasoning methods
>>    computationally.

and pnettlet@gara.une.oz.au (Philip Nettleton) writes [and I edit]:

>I think it is a terribly poor definition, actually, for the following
>reasons:

>a)	Human intelligence is NOT the only form of intelligence.  This is an
>	extremely one-eyed viewpoint.  Dolphins are extremely intelligent, and
>	the only reason we cannot communicate with them to date is because of
>	the extreme differences in our vocal ranges and auditory senses.
>	There is also a huge cultural gap.  What concerns do dolphins have?
>	What form does their communication take?  We need to know these
>	BEFORE we can even look at syntax and semantics.  Hence their
>	intelligence is very alien to ours.

Agreed with (a), but I do not recall having implied human intelligence is
the only form of intelligence.  However, it is certainly the most
interesting to artificial intelligence scientists and engineers.  From the
practical perspective, it is the only type of intelligence which interests
industry, from which the purse flows.

My definition involves a model of human REASONING methods.  The strongest
areas of artificial intelligence, in my opinion, are expert systems (modeling
the knowledge of an expert), natural language systems (modeling languages
and how humans process them), robotics (modeling human sensory and motor
functions), and neural networks (modeling the cognitive processes of the
human brain).  Each of these involves human reasoning.

>b)	People tend to assume that a machine cannot be intelligent.  Human
>	intelligence is well documented, and much research has been done into
>	animal intelligence, but what of machine intelligence?  Is there a
>	specific type of intelligence that a machine can have?  Is there any
>	need to base this intelligence on human or animal intelligence?

Your reference to machine intelligence is a good one, but it is a mistake
to overshadow human intelligence with it in defining artificial intelligence.
A machine is no more than an extension of human computability.  There is
nothing which a machine does which is not a direct product of the exercise
of human intelligence.  Consequently, machine intelligence is a subset of
human intelligence.

>Saying that AI is modeling "human intelligence" is totally inadequate.  It
>may not even be possible because we have such a limited understanding of
>the processes involved.

I did not say AI models human intelligence.  I was very specific to say that
it models human reasoning methods.  I also believe our knowledge of human
reasoning is limited, but that does not stop AI scientists and engineers
from developing theories and applications.

>Artificial Intelligence means:
>	An intelligent system designed by mankind to run on a man-made
>	artifact, for example, a computer. The term Machine Intelligence
>	is more succinct because it identifies the type of intelligence
>	created.

Artificial intelligence is not a system, any more than computer science is
a system.  Intelligent systems are the product of artificial intelligence
METHODOLOGIES.  For example, an expert system is not "artificial
intelligence", rather it is the result of applying artificial intelligence
methodologies.
--
Jim Wood [wood@cadillac.siemens.com]
Siemens Corporate Research, 755 College Road East, Princeton, NJ  08540
(609) 734-3643