Page 243 - DCAP208_Management Support Systems

Management Support Systems

Notes exploration of methods for solving challenging tasks that have traditionally depended on people
for solution. Such tasks include complex logical inference, diagnosis, visual recognition,
comprehension of natural language, game playing, explanation, and planning.
We shall begin our study of AI, by considering a number of alternative definitions of this Topic.
AI is the study of how to make computers do things which at the moment people do better.
This is ephemeral as it refers to the current state of computer science and it excludes a
major area; problems that cannot be solved well either by computers or by people at the
moment.
AI is a field of study that encompasses computational techniques for performing tasks that
apparently require intelligence when performed by humans.

AI is the branch of computer science that is concerned with the automation of intelligent
behaviour. AI is based upon the principles of computer science namely data structures
used in knowledge representation, the algorithms needed to apply that knowledge and
the languages and programming techniques used in their implementation. These
definitions avoid philosophic discussions as to what is meant by artificial or intelligence.
AI is the field of study that seeks to explain and emulate intelligent behaviour in terms of
computational processes.

AI is about generating representations and procedures that automatically or autonomously
solve problems heretofore solved by humans.

AI is the part of computer science concerned with designing intelligent computer systems,
that is, computer systems that exhibit the characteristics we associate with intelligence in
human behaviour such as understanding language, learning, reasoning and solving
problems.
AI is the study of mental faculties through the use of computational models.

AI is the study of the computations that make it possible to perceive, reason, and act.
AI is the exciting new effort to make computers think machines with minds, in the full and
literal sense.

Notes AI is concerned with developing computer systems that can store knowledge and
effectively use the knowledge to help solve problems and accomplish tasks. This brief
statement sounds a lot like one of the commonly accepted goals in the education of
humans. We want students to learn (gain knowledge) and to learn to use this knowledge
to help solve problems and accomplish tasks.
The above definitions give us four possible goals to pursue in artificial intelligence:

Systems that think like humans
Systems that act like humans
Systems that think rationally. (A system is rational if it does the right thing.)

Systems that act rationally
Historically, all four approaches have been followed. As one might expect, a tension exists
between approaches centered around humans and approaches centered around rationality. We
should point out that by distinguishing between human and rational behaviour, we are not
suggesting that humans are necessarily “irrational” in the sense of “emotionally unstable” or

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