# Chapter 1 - Introduction #

Exercise 1.1
Read Turing's original paper on AI (Turing, 1950). In the paper, he discusses
several potential objections to his proposed enterprise and his test for intelligence.
Which objections still carry some weight? Are his refutations valid? Can you
think of new objections arising from developments since he wrote the paper? In
the paper, he predicts that by the year 2000, a computer will have a 30% chance
of passing a five-minute Turing Test with an unskilled interrogator. Do you think
this is reasonable?

Solution
The objections that are still commonly used are:
- Consciousness objection that machines can't feel emotions in the same way as
humans
- Lady Lovelaces objection that machines can only do what they are programmed

His refutations are valid but they work by clarifying what it means to be
intelligent

New objections may include things like that computers are designed to be
sequential rather than parallel
and whether it's possible to have computer based parallel cores operate quickly
enough to simulate a brain

Chat-bots are quite widely used (often for scamming people). This shows that if a
person assumes they
are talking with a human that they can be quite easily fooled.

## Exercise 1.2 ##
We characterized the definitions of AI along two dimensions, human vs. ideal
and thought vs. action. But there are other dimensions that are worth
considering. One dimension is whether we are interested in theoretical
results or in practical applications. Another is whether we intend our
intelligent computers to be conscious or not. Philosophers have had a lot to
say about this issue, and although most AI researchers are happy to leave the
questions to the philosophers, there has been heated debate. The claim that
machines can be conscious is called the strong AI claim; the weak AI position
makes no such claim.
Characterize the eight definitions on page 5 and the seven following
definitions according to the four dimensions we have mentioned and
whatever other ones you feel are helpful.
Artificial intelligence is ...

1. "a collection of algorithms that are computationally tractable, adequate

approximations of
intractably specified problems" (Partridge, 1991)
2. "the enterprise of constructing a physical symbol system that can reliably
pass the Turing
Test" (Ginsberg, 1993)
3. "the field of computer science that studies how machines can be made to
act intelligently"
(Jackson, 1986)
4. "a field of study that encompasses computational techniques for
performing tasks that
apparently require intelligence when performed by humans" (Tanimoto,
1990)
5. "a very general investigation of the nature of intelligence and the
principles and mechanisms
required for understanding or replicating it" (Sharpies et ai, 1989)
6. "the getting of computers to do things that seem to be intelligent" (Rowe,
1988).

### Solution ###

Human vs. Ideal (H/I)
Thought vs. Action (T/A)
Theoretical vs. Practical (T/P)
Conscious vs. Unconscious (C/U)

1. ITPU
2. HAPU
3. IAPU
4. HAPU
5. ITTC
6. IAPU
## Exercise 1.3 ##
There are well-known classes of problems that are intractably difficult for
computers, and other classes that are provably undecidable by any
computer. Does this mean that AI is impossible?

### Solution ###

No. This means the problems are intractible for humans as well but that heuristics
exist that can be used
to generate good enough approximations of results.

## Exercise 1.4 ##
Suppose we extend Evans's ANALOGY program so that it can score 200 on a
standard IQ test. Would we then have a program more intelligent than a
human? Explain

### Solution ###

No. Intelligence is the skill of generating and applying accurate predictive models
of the world based on percepts, actions, and rewards. An IQ test focuses more on
pattern recognition and state manipulation which is only a subset of this.

## Exercise 1.5 ##
Examine the AI literature to discover whether or not the following tasks can
currently be solved by computers:

1. Playing a decent game of table tennis (ping-pong).

2. Driving in the center of Cairo.
3. Playing a decent game of bridge at a competitive level.
4. Discovering and proving new mathematical theorems.
5. Writing an intentionally funny story.
6. Giving competent legal advice in a specialized area of law.
7. Translating spoken English into spoken Swedish in real time.

For the currently infeasible tasks, try to find out what the difficulties are and
estimate when they will be overcome.

### Solution ###

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No - Generating surprise and finding hidden relationships in language/life
6. Yes
7. Yes

## Exercise 1.6 ##
Find an article written by a lay person in a reputable newspaper or magazine
claiming the achievement of some intelligent capacity by a machine, where
the claim is either wildly exaggerated or false.

### Solution ###

Companies claiming to have created AGI

## Exercise 1.8 ##
Some authors have claimed that perception and motor skills are the most
important part of intelligence, and that "higher-level" capacities are
necessarily parasitic—simple add-ons to these underlying facilities.
Certainly, most of evolution and a large part of the brain have been devoted
to perception and motor skills, whereas AI has found tasks such as game
playing and logical inference to be easier, in many ways, than perceiving and
acting in the real world. Do you think that AI's traditional focus on higher-
level cognitive abilities is misplaced?

### Solution ###

No. These skills are required to operate in the 'real world', but are not required to
create an intelligent system.

## Exercise 1.9 ##
"Surely computers cannot be intelligent—they can only do what their
programmers tell them." Is the latter statement true, and does it imply the
former?

### Solution ###

Yes, No. It just needs to be programmed in a flexible way that allows for internal
decisions to alter internal functions
## Exercise 1.10 ##
"Surely animals cannot be intelligent—they can only do what their genes tell
them." Is the latter statement true, and does it imply the former?

### Solution ###

Yes, No. Brain operates in a flexible way allowing for the process described
above