Artificial Intelligence

Kasparov v. Deep BlueIn 1997 Russian chess master Garry Kasparov lost a highly publicized series of matches to an IBM computer named Deep Blue. The computer used artificial intelligence to process 200 million chess moves per second in developing its strategy. This was the first time that an international chess grand master had lost a series to a computer, suggesting to some observers that advances in artificial intelligence may be surpassing human capacity in some areas.Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Artificial Neural Network

The neural networks that are increasingly being used

 in computing mimic those found in the nervous systems

 of vertebrates. The main characteristic of a biological

 neural network, top, is that each neuron, or nerve cell, 

receives signals from many other neurons through its branching 

dendrites. The neuron produces an output signal that

 depends on the values of all the input signals and passes

 this output on to many other neurons along a branching 

fiber called an axon. In an artificial neural network, bottom,

 input signals, such as signals from a television camera’s image,

 fall on a layer of input nodes, or computing units. Each of these 

nodes is linked to several other “hidden’ nodes between

 the input and output nodes of the network. 

There may be several layers of hidden nodes, 

though for simplicity only one is shown here. Each hidden 

node performs a calculation on the signals reaching it and 

sends a corresponding output signal to other nodes.

 The final output is a highly processed version of the input.

 WABOT-2 and Inventor

An inventor plays a duet with WABOT-2, developed in the 1980s

 in Japan as one of the world’s first “personal” robots. It

 represented a milestone in robotics as one of the earliest

 examples of a robot using artificial intelligence (AI) programming.

 The programming enabled the robot to play a 

musical keyboard with its human-like hands, read

 sheet music with its electronic eye, and even hold a rudimentary conversation with people.

Michael Macintyre/Hutchison Library

Humanoid Robot ASIMO Walks Down Stairs

ASIMO is a humanoid robot designed by Japanese engineers

 at the Honda Motor Company. The 4-foot-tall robot first

 appeared in public in 2000. It is capable of walking and 

running like a human, and can climb stairs and reach for

 objects. The name ASIMO stands for Advanced Step

 in Innovative Mobility. The name may also

 honor the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who wrote stories about intelligent robots.

Reuters/Corbis

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the study and engineering of intelligent machines capable of performing the same kinds of functions that characterize human thought. The concept of AI dates from ancient times, but the advent of digital computers in the 20th century brought AI into the realm of possibility. AI was conceived as a field of computer science in the mid-1950s. The term AI has been applied to computer programs and systems capable of performing tasks more complex than straightforward programming, although still far from the realm of actual thought. While the nature of intelligence remains elusive, AI capabilities currently have far-reaching applications in such areas as information processing, computer gaming, national security, electronic commerce, and diagnostic systems.

Alan Turing

Considered a forerunner in the field of electronic

 computers, Alan Turing envisioned a device that 

could, in theory, perform any calculation. Referred

 to as the Turing Machine, it was designed to “read” 

commands and data from a long piece of tape, using 

a table to determine the order in which the required

 operations would be carried out. In the related field 

of artificial intelligence, he originated the “Turing test,”

 a process designed to determine if a computer can “think” like a human.

Science Source/Photo Researchers, Inc.