Nell Dale & John Lewis

(adaptation by Michael Goldwasser and Erin Chambers)

Artificial Intelligence

Limitations of Computers?

Are there tasks which cannot easily be automated? If so, what are the limitations?

How do computers abilities compare to that of humans?

What is AI?

Computer vs. Humans?

A computer can do some things better than a human can

Adding a thousand four-digit numbers

Drawing complex, 3D images

Store and retrieve massive amounts of data

Computer vs. Humans?

Let’s reverse the tables.

Name some things that a human can do better than a computer.

Computer vs. Human

Point out the cat in the picture

A computer might have difficulty making that identification

Figure 13.1 A computer might have trouble identifying the cat in this picture.

Computer vs. Humans?

Could the following occupations be performed by computers? If so, should they be?

Postman

Bookstore Clerk

Librarian

Doctor

Lawyer

Judge

Professor

Artificial Intelligence

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) is the study of computer systems that attempt to model and apply the intelligence of the human mind

Of course, first we have to understand why we use the term “intelligence” in regard to humans.

What defines “intelligence”?

Why is it that we assume humans are intelligent?

Are monkeys intelligent? Dogs? Ants? Pine trees?

Early History (1950s)

In 1950 English mathematician Alan Turing wrote a landmark paper titled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” that asked the question:	“Can machines think?”

Further work came out of a 1956 workshop at Dartmouth sponsored by John McCarthy. In the proposal for that workshop, he coined the phrase a “study of artificial intelligence”

Can machines think?

So Turing asked: “Can machines think?” He felt that such machines would eventually be constructed.

But he also realized a bigger problem. How would we know if we’ve succeeded?

The Turing Test

Figure 13.2
In a Turing test, the interrogator must determine which respondent is the computer and which is the human

The Turing Test

Loebner prize

The first formal instantiation

of the Turing test, held

annually

Chatbots

A program designed to carry on a conversation with a human user

The Turing Test

Passing the Turing Test does not truly show that the machine was thinking. It simply shows that it generated behavior consistent with thinking.

weak equivalence: the two systems (human and computer) are equivalent in results (output), but they do not necessarily arrive at those results in the same way

Strong equivalence: the two systems use the same internal processes to produce results

Overview of Issues

We want to compare the way that computers and humans work to see if we can better understand why each have their (computational) strengths.

Processing Models

Knowledge Representation

Reasoning

The Human Brain

Let’s first look at how a biological neural network works

A neuron is a single cell that conducts a chemically-based electronic signal

At any point in time a neuron is in either an excited or inhibited state

The Human Brain

Figure 13.6 A biological neuron

The Human Brain

A series of connected neurons forms a pathway

A series of excited neurons creates a strong pathway

A biological neuron has multiple input tentacles called dendrites and one primary output tentacle called an axon

The gap between an axon and a dendrite is called a synapse

The Human Brain

A neuron accepts multiple input signals and then controls the contribution of each signal based on the “importance” the corresponding synapse gives to it

The pathways along the neural nets are in a constant state of flux

As we learn new things, new strong neural pathways in our brain are formed

Artificial Neural Networks

Some have tried to use computers to mimic the neural network model of the human brain.

Each processing element in an artificial neural net is analogous to a biological neuron

An element accepts a certain number of input values and produces a single output value of either 0 or 1

Associated with each input value is a numeric weight

Artificial Neural Networks

The effective weight of the element is defined to be the sum of the weights multiplied by their respective input values

v1*w1 + v2*w2 + v3*w3

Each element has a numeric threshold value

If the effective weight exceeds the threshold, the unit produces an output value of 1

If it does not exceed the threshold, it produces an output value of 0

Artificial Neural Networks

The process of adjusting the weights and threshold values in a neural net is called training

A neural net can presumably be trained to produce whatever results are required

(Ay, there’s the rub)

Human vs. Computer

The top supercomputers today might approach this much memory.

Roughly 100 billion neurons; estimated to represent equivalent of 50 trillion bits.

memory

Processor perhaps connected to up to 100 other processors

Each neuron connected to roughly 1000 other neurons

communication

Electrons travel at speed of light (186000 miles/second)

Neurotransmitters travel at rate of perhaps 1000 feet/second.

speed

Massively Parallel Computer

Human Brain

Knowledge Representation

The first example we consider is the use of a search tree to represent the state of knowledge.

Another example we consider is a knowledge-based system which reasons based upon the notion of a semantic network.

Search Trees

Search tree A structure that represents all possible moves in a game, for both you and your opponent

The paths down a search tree represent a series of decisions made by the players

Search Trees

Figure 13.4 A search tree for a simplified version of Nim

Search Trees

Techniques for searching trees

Depth-first A technique that involves the analysis of selected paths all the way down the tree

Breadth-first A technique that involves the analysis of all possible paths but only for a short distance down the tree

Search Trees

Figure 13.5 Depth-first and breadth-first searches

Search Trees

Search tree analysis can be applied nicely to other, more complicated games such as chess

Because these trees are so large, only a fraction of the tree can be analyzed in a reasonable time limit, even with modern computing power

Semantic Networks

Semantic network A knowledge representation technique that focuses on the relationships between objects

A directed graph is used to represent a semantic network or net

Semantic Networks

Figure 13.3 A semantic network

Semantic Networks

The relationships that we represent are completely our choice, based on the information we need to answer the kinds of questions that we will face

The types of relationships represented determine which questions are easily answered, which are more difficult to answer, and which cannot be answered

Expert Systems

Knowledge-based system

Software that uses a specific set of information, from which it extracts and processes particular pieces

Expert system

A software system based the knowledge of human experts; it is

Rule-based system

A software system based on a set of if-then rules

Inference engine

The software that processes rules to draw conclusions

Expert Systems

Gardner Expert System Example

Expert Systems

Named abbreviations that represent conclusions

NONE—apply no treatment at this time

TURF—apply a turf-building treatment

WEED—apply a weed-killing treatment

BUG—apply a bug-killing treatment

FEED—apply a basic fertilizer treatment

WEEDFEED—apply a weed-killing and fertilizer combination treatment

Expert Systems

Boolean variables needed to represent state of the lawn

BARE—the lawn has large, bare areas

SPARSE—the lawn is generally thin

WEEDS—the lawn contains many weeds

BUGS—the lawn shows evidence of bugs

Expert Systems

Data that is available

LAST—the date of last lawn treatment

CURRENT—current date

SEASON—the current season

Now we can formulate some rules for our

gardening expert system

Expert Systems

Some rules

if (CURRENT – LAST < 30) then NONE

if (SEASON = winter) then not BUGS

if (BARE) then TURF

if (SPARSE and not WEEDS) then FEED

if (BUGS and not SPARSE) then BUG

if (WEEDS and not SPARSE) then WEED

if (WEEDS and SPARSE) then WEEDFEED

Expert Systems

An execution of our inference engine

System:	Does the lawn have large, bare areas?

User:	No

System:	Does the lawn show evidence of bugs?

User:	No

System:	Is the lawn generally thin?

User:	Yes

System:	Does the lawn contain significant weeds?

User:	Yes

System:	You should apply a weed-killing and	fertilizer combination treatment.

Natural Language Processing

There are three basic types of processing going on during human/computer voice interaction

Voice recognition—recognizing human words

Natural language comprehension—interpreting human communication

Voice synthesis—recreating human speech

Common to all of these problems is the fact that we are using a natural language, which can be any language that humans use to communicate

Voice Synthesis

There are two basic approaches to the solution

Dynamic voice generation

Recorded speech

To generate voice output using dynamic voice generation, a computer examines the letters that make up a word and produces the sequence of sounds that correspond to those letters in an attempt to vocalize the word

Human speech has been categorized into specific sound units called phonemes

Voice Synthesis

Figure 13.7 Phonemes for American English

Voice Synthesis

The other approach to voice synthesis is to play digital recordings of a human voice saying specific words

Telephone voice mail systems often use this approach: “Press 1 to leave a message for Alex Wakefield”

Voice Synthesis (cont.)

Each word or phrase needed must be recorded separately

Furthermore, since words are pronounced differently in different contexts, some words may have to be recorded multiple times

For example, a word at the end of a question rises in pitch compared to its use in the middle of a sentence

Voice Recognition

The sounds that each person makes when speaking are unique

We each have a unique shape to our mouth, tongue, throat, and nasal cavities that affect the pitch and resonance of our spoken voice

Speech impediments, mumbling, volume, regional accents, and the health of the speaker further complicate this problem

Voice Recognition (cont.)

Furthermore, humans speak in a continuous, flowing manner

Words are strung together into sentences

Sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between phrases like “ice cream” and “I scream”

Also, homonyms such as “I” and “eye” or “see” and “sea”

Humans can often clarify these situations by the context of the sentence, but that processing requires another level of comprehension

Modern voice-recognition systems still do not do well with continuous, conversational speech

Natural Language Comprehension

Even if a computer recognizes the words that are spoken, it is another task entirely to understand the meaning of those words

Natural language is often ambiguous, for a variety of reasons. Let’s look at several classes of ambiguity (though admittedly there is some overlap in such a classification)

Lexical Ambiguity

A single word can have two meanings.

“The bat slipped from his hand”

“Cinderella had a ball”

“Ron lies asleep in his bed”

Worse yet, those meanings may even constitute different parts of speech.

“Time flies like an arrow”

“They are racing horses”

“Stampeding cattle can be dangerous”

Syntactic Ambiguity

Even if all words have a clear meaning, ambiguity may exist because the phrases can be combined in several ways when parsing.

“I saw the Grand Canyon flying to New York”

“The clams are ready to eat”

“I saw the man in the park with the telescope”

Referential Ambiguity

Pronouns may cause ambiguity when it is not clear which noun is being referenced.

“The brick fell on the computer but it is not broken”

“Jon met Bill before he went to the store”

Rules of Conversation

“Do you know what time it is?”

Presumably, a correct response is “Yes.”

Does this sentence’s meaning change if it is said by your boss when you walk into a meeting 30 minutes late?

“Do you know you have a flat tire?”

“I’d like to ask everyone to raise their hand for two seconds.”

How did you respond?

Need for “real world” knowledge

“Norman Rockwell painted people”

Did he do tattoos? Face-painting?

Robotics

Mobile robotics

The study of robots that move relative to their environment, while exhibiting a degree of autonomy

Sense-plan-act (SPA) paradigm

The world of the robot is represented in a complex semantic net in which the sensors on the robot are used to capture the data to build up the net

Figure 13.8 The sense-plan-act (SPA) paradigm

Subsumption Architecture

Rather than trying to model the entire world all the time, the robot is given a simple set of behaviors each associated with the part of the world necessary for that behavior

Figure 13.9
The new control paradigm

Subsumption Architecture

Figure 13.10 Asimov’s laws of robotics are ordered.

Robots

Sony's Aibo

Robots

Sojourner

Rover

Robots

Spirit or

Opportunity

PowerPoint Presentation

Jones & Bartlett Publishers

2002-06-09T13:56:08