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Artificial Intelligence

Notes In 1963 MIT received a 2.2 million dollar grant from the United States government to be used in
researching Machine-Aided Cognition (artificial intelligence). The grant by the Department of
Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), to ensure that the US would stay ahead of
the Soviet Union in technological advancements. The project served to increase the pace of
development in AI research, by drawing computer scientists from around the world, and continues
funding.

Multitude of Programs

The next few years showed a multitude of programs, one notably was SHRDLU. SHRDLU was
part of the micro-worlds project, which consisted of research and programming in small worlds
(such as with a limited number of geometric shapes). The MIT researchers headed by Marvin
Minsky, demonstrated that when confined to a small subject matter, computer programs could
solve spatial problems and logic problems. Other programs which appeared during the late
1960’s were STUDENT, which could solve algebra story problems, and SIR which could understand
simple English sentences. The result of these programs was a refinement in language
comprehension and logic.
Another advancement in the 1970’s was the advent of the expert system. Expert systems predict
the probability of a solution under set conditions.

Example: Because of the large storage capacity of computers at the time, expert systems
had the potential to interpret statistics, to formulate rules. And the applications in the market
place were extensive, and over the course of ten years, expert systems had been introduced to
forecast the stock market, aiding doctors with the ability to diagnose disease, and instruct
miners to promising mineral locations. This was made possible because of the systems ability to
store conditional rules, and a storage of information.
During the 1970’s, many new methods in the development of AI were tested, notably Minsky’s
frames theory. Also David Marr proposed new theories about machine vision, for instance, how
it would be possible to distinguish an image based on the shading of an image, basic information
on shapes, color, edges, and texture. With analysis of this information, frames of what an image
might be could then be referenced. Another development during this time was the PROLOGUE
language. The language was proposed for 1972.

During the 1980’s AI was moving at a faster pace, and further into the corporate sector. In 1986,
US sales of AI-related hardware and software surged to $425 million. Expert systems in particular
demand because of their efficiency. Companies such as Digital Electronics were using XCON, an
expert system designed to program the large VAX computers. DuPont, General Motors, and
Boeing relied heavily on expert systems Indeed to keep up with the demand for the computer
experts, companies such as Teknowledge and Intellicorp specializing in creating software to aid
in producing expert systems formed. Other expert systems were designed to find and correct
flaws in existing expert systems.

Transition from Lab to Life

The impact of the computer technology, AI included was felt. No longer was the computer
technology just part of a select few researchers in laboratories. The personal computer made its
debut along with many technological magazines. Such foundations as the American Association
for Artificial Intelligence also started. There was also, with the demand for AI development, a
push for researchers to join private companies. 150 companies such as DEC which employed its
AI research group of 700 personnel, spend $1 billion on internal AI groups. Other fields of AI
also made there way into the marketplace during the 1980’s. One in particular was the machine

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