Thursday, March 10, 2011

Problems With Creating Artificial Intelligence

One of the main problems with creating artificial intelligence is giving the computers common sense. Although they are able to solve complex problems much too dificult for a human brain to figure out, they are unable to know things such as "the sky is blue." Instead, all of this information has to be manually entered into the intelligence as data. Unfortunately, there is not a database large enough to store this information, making artificial intelligence very difficult to create. Even the most advanced supercomputers are incapable to perform thoughts done by a small child; for example telling the difference between a cat and a dog.
Another issue with creating artificial intelligence, is learning exactly how the human brain works. It is a complex system that scientists are still looking to figure out. Although they could easily duplicate the physical structure of the brain, the mechanics are simply unimaginable. As science continues to advance, experts hope to experience many successes while trying to solve these issues.

IBM Watson Wins Jeopardy!

Watson is the only computer in the world that can answer a Jeopardy question in less than three seconds. "He" is a major breakthrough in the andvances of artificial intelligence and engineering. The biggest obstacle engineers faced while building Watson was figuring out how to make him understand "natural language" and do more than search engines like Google and Bing do, which is simply point the way to a document with the answer. Technologists have regarded this kind of artificial intelligence as the "holy grail" because computers will now be able to converse with humans, allowing us to ask a question instead of searching for keywords. Also, Watson was a remarkable success because he is not connected to the internet, but, like the other competitors, all of the information was stored in his "brain." Throughout his Jeopardy tournament, Wilson was able to win four out of six games. However, he was a victory for technology advancements.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is defined as, "the study and design of intelligent agents," an intelligent agent being a system that is able to percieve its environment and is able to make choices that maximize its chances of success. Aspects of artificial intelligence include planning and learning skills, natural language processing, motion and manipulation, perception, social intelligence, creativity, and general intelligence. Many people question the morality and the capabilities that artificial intelligence can have.