DOCUMENT RESUME ED 114 116 IR 002 751 AUTHOP Leal, Ralph A. TITLE /A Primer on Artificial Intelligence. PUB DATE 75 ,. , NOTE '33p. 1 ' :-- FDRS PRICE MF-$0.76 HC-$1a95 Plus Postage- pESCPIPTORS *Artificial Intelligence; *Bionics; tOdputer Programs;' *Cyb4inetics;'Information The'ory; IntelligenC Factors; Machine Translation; *Progr,aming Languages. r ABSTPACT A survey of litetature on, recent advances in the fidld of artificial intelligence provides, a comprehensive introduction to this field for the non-technical'reader. Important areas covered are:, (1) definitions, (2)t'ie brain and thinking, (3) heuristic sahrch, and (4) pr'ograminig languages used in the research of artificial intelligence. Some examples of hrtificial intelligence are described. Suggestions for additional reading and a 28-item bibliography are'appended. (DS) 4,r 7 t ********************************************************************** * . Documents acquired by ERIC include manylinforeal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy, available. Nevertheless, items of marginal" * reproducibility' are often encountered and this-affects the,qualit.y * of the microfiche and hardc'opy reproductions ERIC makes available . *,via the ERIC .Document Peproduction Service (EDPS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions *, supplied bey EDPS are the best that-can/be madd from the original. *, ***************4******************************************************* s.4) Title: A Primer' on Artificial Intelligence r7q .Author: ,-Ralph A. Leal r-q State University of New York- College at Old Westbury C:) . Abstract: This survey of recent ad4iances in the field offartificial 11-11 intelligene is'aimed at the non-technical reader. Its purpose is to present a concise and comprehensive intro- duction to the field.. Areas covered' include definitions, the brain and thinking, heUristic searchand an overview of pogramming languages in artificial intelligence research. The appendices include a classical article by Dr. Vannevar Bush entitled "As We May Think" and biblio- graphical suggestions for additional reading., Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; AI; Huristic Search; Programming Languages in Artificial Intelligence; Vannevar Bush., 42 pages, appendices, bibliographies / U S OEFIARTMENT OF HEALTH, 1$01.1CATION LWELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 4, IOUCATION THISDOCUMENT HAS OUCEO EXACTLY SEEN REPRO THE PERSON OR AS RECEIVED FROM 4. ATiNG IT POINTSORGANIZATION ORIGIN OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT SENT OFFICIAL NECESSARILY REPRf NATIONAL INSTITUTE EOUCATION POSITIONOR oppLity OF A Ar,STRACT Leal, Ralph A. A PRIr22 CN ARTIFICILL D-TELLI.7,:tNCE. New York, 1974. Artificial intelligence has been .defined. as 'the totality of if attempts to make and understand machines that are able to perform tasks that, recently, only human beings could perform, and to perform /them with effectiveness and speed comparable toa human.' (Banerji, 1969). Although the field has nany divisions and subdivisions, the Ast important work can be classifiedinto four areas: (1) Game Playing; (2) Problem Solving; (3) PatternRecognition', and (4) Semantic tnformatiOn Processing. Attempts to understand. the basic.requiremen;s for the construct- don of an 'intelligent' nachine have led to exploration of/the physical functioning of the brain. The most famous theorem in this area` is the McCulloch-Pitts Theory of Formal Neural Networks. An undeAtanding of thought processes is also important to the_ artificial intelligence field.gleolai Asomov, of the Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; r as propoSeda general model of ahuman bei0 which has three types of programs: one for himself - for self - preservation; one for stock 7:the repro- dUctive instinct, and (11-e-'or species- the programs of social behavior. The Englilth mathematician-A.' M. Turing, a firm believer in the possibility of creating tificial intelligence, has summarized the objections to that possibility in an article entitled 'Can A Machine Think?' Among the objections we find are: (1) the theological;, (2) the heads-in-the-sand; (3) the mathematical; (4) the argument from consciou?ness; (5) the various disabilities argument; (6) Lady Love- lace's grgument; (7) the argument from continuity in the nervous system; (8) the argument front informality of behavior, and (9) the argument from extra-:sensory perception. 7- Heuristic searchls a mathematical process used to move from an initial state to a desired state using a repertoire of actions when the sequence of steps is not exactly known. Donald MiChie believes that this process offers good payoff Possibilities fdr future research in the AI field, A number of Programming languages, characterized by their ability to d9 list processing and symbol manipulation.; have'been developed to assist AI researchers. The loci for the creation of these languages have been the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford Research - Institute, and the University of Edin",surgh. Despite the raging debates in favor and against the possibility that 'thinking machines' may te constructed, we must conclude that not all the evidence is yet in, and lean- very tentatively - towards 'the positive side of the argument. TABLE OF CONTEN7S 4 I. v Abstract r- Introduction III. Definitions IV. The Brain' and Thinking > V. Can Machints Think ?- VI. 1-leuristic Search VII. Programming Languages'in AI Research VIII.Some Examples of AT .. IX.* Conclusions Appendices A. LC Science Tracer Bullet "Artifidial Intelligence" (B. Direct brain-to-computer interface on,,:the way C. "Artificial, Intelligence" - Encyclopedia of Librdry and Information Science :C "As We May Think." Bibliography 4' INTRODUCTION . In 1945,1)r. Vannevar Bush wrotean article in The Atlantic Monthly whi has become a classic in the,field ofinformation science. 4 : 1 In that e, Dr. Bush foresaw a world in which man'squest for knowledge be tailored to individual needs through theuse of ..'association trails' stoked in each person's homelibrary - the Memex. In the same 1 reaC'hing boldly into the 'future, hewrote: In, the outside world, allforms of intelligence, whether of sound or sight, have been reducedto the form of varyingcurrents in an electric circuit in order thatthey may be transmitted. Inside the huinan frame exactly thesame sort of process occurs. Must we always transformto mechanical movements inorder to proceed from one electrical phenomenonto another? 1 The September, 1974 issue of Cariputer Decisionsdescribes research currently underway atthe Stanford Research Institute in thefollowing terms: Imagine, if you can? a computer installationwith none of the input devices you're used to. No card readers, tape readersr.crt terminalsor tele- typewriters. Instead of all thiscumbersome and inefficient hardware,you've got a special helmet. You will enter data directly from your braininto the computer. 2 We have chosen the above examples to introducethe subject ofour research paper- artificialintelligence- because they are illustra- tive of the advance'swhich are possible in the, various fields ofscience * 1..Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think." TheAtlantic Monthly, July 1945, p. 108. (See Appendix D.) :4 "DirectBrain-to-Computer Interface On The Way." ComputerDecisions, September 1974, p. 13. (See Appendix B.) tarce L ; bror ce,s 2 I within the span ofthree decades. What Vannevar Bushreferred.to.as a "... suggestive thought, but it hardly warrantsprediction without losing touch withreality and. immediateness 3 ..." in 1945 is already being tested in a California' aboratoryin 1974. The subjectiof our study has suffered attadksby a number of/ respected members of the scientific community,who have put forth powerful arguments todemonstrate that the . very concept of artificial .--/-elligenceis blzar? e andunderservingf serious . .,, consideration. In the following pages tie will attempt topresent an unbiased a and compre- hensilite picture'of an evolving field. 7 3. Bush, Vannevar, loc. cit. 11. G , Alt DEFINITIONS Donald G. Fink, in his Computersand the Human Mind, 4-Tinesartificial intelligence in the f011owingmanner: (a) The ability of machinesto organize inforL nation into meaningful patterns; abilityto recognize, store, recall, and3abipulatesuch patterns in playing games, solvingproblems, answering questions,etq., and in Controlling the actions of other mechanisms;Xb) the ability of a machine to adapt to itsenvironment, parti- cularly to respond to patternsof stimulation not explicitly foreseen in its design; (c)the obser- ved performance of such machinesas measured by comparison with, or in competitiona4p3nst,.human, intelligence.4 Ranan B. Banerji, in his Theory of ProblemSolving.- An IP-- Approach to Artificial Intelligence, _ puts forth the following defini- Lion: The field commonly. called artificialintelligence may, perhaps, be described as the totalityof ahtemptS to make'and understand machinesthat are able to perform tasks that, until,recently, only 1171;gn beings couldperform and to perform them with effectimpess and speed comcarableto a uman. (Italics his) 5 Philip C. Jackson, Jr., in his Introductionto Artificial Intel- ligende, defines it in these terms:. PArtificial intelligence is the ability ofmaChines.t: to do things that people wouldsay require intelligence. 6 p- . ! 1 14 4. Fink', Donald G. Computers and the aMind,-ti. 25. 5. Banerji, Ranan B. Theory of Problem Solving, p. 1. 6. Jackson, Jr., Philip C. Introduction