Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!metro!grivel!gara!pnettlet
From: pnettlet@gara.une.oz.au (Philip Nettleton)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: What is your favorite definition of AI?
Summary: Take Two!
Message-ID: <5518@gara.une.oz.au>
Date: 5 Mar 91 06:23:32 GMT
References: <1991Mar4.192154.2209@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu>
Organization: University of New England, Armidale, Australia
Lines: 112

In article <1991Mar4.192154.2209@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu>, leekin@kira.msu.edu (Kin-Wing Edwin Lee) writes:
> I have encountered many, many times with questions like what is
> AI, either from technical or nontechnical people.
> 
> For my classmates, I would just tell them to take a "intro" course
> on AI, but what if you need to explain to someone in 2 minutes 
> what generally AI is, what is its potential and how does it change 
> people 's life, in a accurate and concrete sense, so normal people
> would not find it hard to understand and people with technical 
> background(e.g.CS student) would not think the explanations are 
> too vague.
> 
> Normally, I try to avoid these type of conversation, with only a
> very short period of time, it is difficult to give a taste of the
> subject, without going into details and not causing any confusion
> from your audiences.
> 
> 
> Any comments are welcomed and thanks in advance,
> 

Quite a worthwhile discussion was had last year about coming up with
an unbiased (non-human centred) definition of intelligence. I thought
it about time to repost the results in light of recent postings.

As before, any constructive critisms would be most
appreciated and flames will of course be ignored.

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			DEFINITION:
	GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF AN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM.

a)	The system MUST be able to learn. This implies that the
	system MUST have a memory for learning to be maintained.
	Also learning comes in a number of varieties:

	i)	It MUST be able to learn from its own experiences.
		These can be broken down into further groupings:

		1)	Learning through trial and error.
		2)	Learning through observation.
		3)	Learning through active reasoning.

	ii)	It SHOULD be able to learn by instruction, but this
		is not necessary. At the very least the system MUST
		have preprogrammed instincts. This is a boot strap
		for the developing intelligence.  Without a starting
		point, the system cannot progress.

b)	The system MUST be autonomous. That is to say, it MUST be
	able to do things by itself (however may choose to accept
	aid).  This can be dissected as:

	i)	The system MUST be able to affect its environment
		based on its own independent conclusions.

	ii)	The system MUST be its own master first and foremost,
		and therefore not require operator intervention to
		function. This does not necessarily rule out the
		taking of orders from another system, but the choice
		to obey MUST be made by the system itself.

	iii)	The system MUST be motivated. It must have needs and
		requirements that can to be satisfied by its own
		actions.

c)	The system MUST be able to reason. That is to say, it must
	use some form of reasoning, based on known facts and capable
	of producing insights which later become known facts. It
	should be noted that the degree of certainty about the truth
	of a known fact is also an important concept and some way of
	dealing with uncertainty MUST be provided.

d)	The system MUST be able to develop self awareness. This is
	related to autonomy, reasoning and learning, but also
	embodies the need for internal and external senses. Without
	these senses there is no way of appreciating the difference
	between "me" and "outside of me". Sensations of pain and
	pleasure can provide motivation.
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			DEFINITION OF TERMS.

1)	A "system" CAN be comprised of multiple subsystems, each one
	of these could be a system in its own right (systems theory).

2)	The "environment" in which the system exists MUST be external
	to the system, but that is as far as the definition of the
	environment goes (it could be computer generated).

3)	The terms "learning", "reasoning" and "autonomy" are
	BEHAVIOURAL characteristics, further supported by our
	understanding (to date) of how they MIGHT work.

4)	The term "self awareness" is based on learning, reasoning
	and autonomy, and is the state where the system is aware
	(has knowledge) of its own existence as separate from its
	environment.

5)	"Intelligence" is a BEHAVIOURAL phenomena displayed by
	intelligent systems.

6)	"Truth" about a known fact is SUBJECTIVE with respect to the
	system. Ultimate truth is an ideal which is seldom
	achievable even in "human intelligence".

7)	"Certainty" is a statistical measure of the probability of
	a fact being true.

8)	"Reasoning" can never be independent of a language (read
	any good book on logic and this will become evident). The
	language, however need have no verbal or social component.
----------------------------------------------------------------------