Lecture 4

The lecture starts off with a detailed introduction to various different types of
logic. The main type of logical programming talked about in this session is
DataLog, which is used particularly for reasoning as well as database querying. The
speaker gave many examples as to where he has applied his skills, for instance
real-estate agencies. He has also managed to co-found four DataLog-based companies
(DLVSystem, LiXto, Wrapidity, and DeepReason.ai), which is something that took me
by surprise. Nevertheless, he explains the struggles of initiating start-ups, and
the challenges that surround it. I have been quite fascinated with how AI works
since a very long time. Ever since I was a teenager, I dreamed of initiating a
start-up myself, because I wanted to try and develop my own operating system.
However, since I did not possess the necessary background knowledge in logic, this
lecture has given me a great and detailed insight on how one can utilize a logical
programming language like Data-Log and use it to work with databases such as RDBMS.
Furthermore, the speaker has also shines light on a very small but important
subject: marketing. He states that there have been countless times when salesmen
promise their clients from many different companies things that the people who
develop the necessary tools using AI are not capable of offering.

In essence, the lecture was overly advanced for first-semester bachelor

students. It also goes to show that students (including my own self) who do not
know much about Data-Log may find it hard to understand. I did learn a lot on
databases, and I would certainly like to learn more about this sometime in the
future. Overall, the presentation was quite structured and organized, but I also do
think that things could have been a little more simplified in terms of explanation.