Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

CMTE

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 What is Artificial Intelligence

• Artificial Intelligence explores and investigates various kinds

of human behaviour by attempting to create it in the artificial
 such as problem solving, learning, natural language
understanding, deduction, etc.
 the research vehicle is (experimenting medium) is
computer

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 Definitions
Systems that think like
humans
The exciting new effort to make
computers think .. Machines with
minds, in the full and literal sense
(Haugeland, 1985)
Systems that act like
humans
The study of how to make computers
do things which, at the moment,
humans do better (Rich and Knight)
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Systems that think
rationally
..systems that exhibit the
characteristics we associate with
intelligence in human behavior –
understanding language, learning,
reasoning, solving problems and so
on (Handbook of AI)
Systems that act
rationally
..the study of [rational] agents that
exist in an environment and perceive
and act. (Russell and Norvig)
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 AI Viewpoint?

AI fall into four categories

Focus is on "acting rationally"

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 Different Approaches to AI

• Building exact models of human cognition

 The view from psychology and cognitive science
• The logical thought approach
 Emphasis on correct inference
• Building rational agents
 Agent: something that perceives and acts
 Emphasis on developing systems to match or exceed human
performance, often in limited domains

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 Where Are We Now?

• Deep Blue defeated the world chess champion Gary

Kasparov in 1997

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 AI Structure

• Core areas • General algorithms

• Knowledge • Search
representation • Planning
• Reasoning/inference • Constraint satisfaction
• Machine learning • Applications
• Perception • Game playing
• Vision • AI and education
• Natural language • Distributed agents
• Decision theory
• Robotics
• Electronic commerce
• Uncertainty
• Auctions
• Probabilistic approaches
• Reasoning with symbolic data

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 AI is interdisciplinary

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Linguistics
• Neuroscience
• Economics
• Philosophy
• Physics

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 EXPERT SYSTEMS

• Expert (knowledge-based) system – an

artificial intelligence system that applies
reasoning capabilities to reach a conclusion
• Used for
– Diagnostic problems (what’s wrong?)
– Prescriptive problems (what to do?)

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Traffic Signalling Expert System

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 Expert Systems

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 EXPERT SYSTEMS

• Expert (knowledge-based) system – an

artificial intelligence system that applies
reasoning capabilities to reach a conclusion
• Used for
– Diagnostic problems (what’s wrong?)
– Prescriptive problems (what to do?)

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 Structure and Characteristics

AI programs

Knowledge-based systems

Expert systems
• AI programs:
intelligent problem solving tools
• KBSs
AI programs with special program structure
separated knowledge base
• ESs
KBSs applied in a specific narrow field

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 Expert Systems versus
Knowledge-based Systems
An expert system is one whose behavior is so specialized that we
would call a person who performed in a similar manner an
expert.
Knowledge-based systems Systems that use knowledge to
effectively and efficiently perform tasks (also known as advisory
systems, knowledge systems, intelligent systems). These
systems do not really need to behave as experts. Knowledge for
KBS can be acquired from different resources

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 Advantages: ES

Advantages
Provides consistent answers for repetitive decisions,
processes and tasks
Holds and maintains significant levels of information
Encourages organizations to clarify the logic of their decision-
making
Never "forgets" to ask a question, as a human might

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 Disadvantages: ES

Disadvantages
Lacks common sense needed in some decision making
Cannot make creative responses as human expert would in
unusual circumstances
Domain experts not always able to explain their logic and
reasoning
Errors may occur in the knowledge base, and lead to wrong
decisions
Cannot adapt to changing environments, unless knowledge
base is changed

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 Application of ES in Transportation Engg.

Examples
Lacks common sense needed in some decision making
Cannot make creative responses as human expert would in
unusual circumstances
Domain experts not always able to explain their logic and
reasoning
Errors may occur in the knowledge base, and lead to wrong
decisions
Cannot adapt to changing environments, unless knowledge
base is changed

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 Disadvantages: ES

Advantages
Lacks common sense needed in some decision making
Cannot make creative responses as human expert would in
unusual circumstances
Domain experts not always able to explain their logic and
reasoning
Errors may occur in the knowledge base, and lead to wrong
decisions
Cannot adapt to changing environments, unless knowledge
base is changed

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 Application of ES in Transportation Engg.
1. Connecticut DOT has developed the Pavement Rating and Analysis System. It is a
network-level pavement condition rating tool that uses laser videodisc. Cracks and
other type of distress are rated based on closeups of images.
2. In Traffic Adaptive Signal Control system, KBES has been suggested to be used in the
process of determining optimal strategy to control traffic signal under various traffic
condition
3. KBES assists operators in Transportation Management Center to work efficiently, when
unexpected incidents occur, by utilizing experts' knowledge accumulated in the system.
4. Knowledge based expert systems are used to develop a pavement condition
forecasting model and a treatment strategy selection model.

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 Members in the Development Team

• There are five members of the expert system development

team:
 the domain expert
 the knowledge engineer
 the programmer
 the project manager
 the end-user
• The success of their expert system entirely depends on how
well the members work together

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 Members in the Development Team

Expert System
Development Team
Project Manager

Domain Expert Knowledge Engineer Programmer

Expert System

End-user
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 Domain Expert

• The domain expert is a knowledgeable and skilled person

capable of solving problems in a specific area or domain.
• This person has the greatest expertise in a given domain.
• This expertise is to be captured in the expert system.
• Therefore, the expert must:
• be able to communicate his or her knowledge
• be willing to participate in the expert system development
• commit a substantial amount of time to the project.
• The domain expert is the most important player in the expert
system development team.

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 Knowledge Engineer
• The knowledge engineer is someone who is capable of designing,
building and testing an expert system.
• The knowledge engineer's main tasks are:
• to interview the domain expert to find out how a particular problem
is solved.
• to establish what reasoning methods the expert uses to handle facts
and rules, and decide how to represent them in the expert system.
• to choose some development software or an expert system shell, or
decide at programming languages for encoding the knowledge
• responsible for testing, revising and integrating the expert system
into the workplace.

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 Programmer
• The programmer is the person responsible for the actual
programming, describing the domain knowledge in terms that a
computer can understand.

• The programmer needs to have skills in symbolic programming in

such AI languages as LISP, Prolog and also some experience in
the application of different types of expert system shells.

• In addition, the programmer should know conventional

programming languages like Java, C, Matlab, Pascal, FORTRAN,
etc.

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 Project Manager

• The project manager is the leader of the expert system

development team, responsible for keeping the project on
track.

• The project manager makes sure that all deliverables and

milestones are met, interacts with the expert, knowledge
engineer, programmer and end-user

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 End-User

• The end-user, often called just the user, is a person who uses
the expert system when it is developed

• The user must not only be confident in the expert system

performance but also feel comfortable using it

• Therefore, the design of the user interface of the expert

system is also vital for the project’s success; the end-user’s
contribution here can be crucial

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 Key Components of ES

The Expert System

Expert
Advice User Inference
Interface Engine Knowledge
Programs Program Base

User Workstation

Expert System Development

Knowledge
Engineering
Knowledge
Acquisition
Program
Expert and/or
Workstation Knowledge Engineer
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 The User Interface in an ES

• This is the means for user interactions.

• Design of the UI focuses on human concerns such
as ease of use, reliability and reduction of fatigue
• Design should allow for a variety of methods of
interaction (input, control and query)
• Mechanisms include touch screen, voice command,
keyboard

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 The Knowledge Base

• Contains the domain-specific knowledge

acquired from the domain experts
• Can consist of object descriptions, problem-
solving behaviors, constraints and uncertainties
• The success of an ES relies on the
completeness and accuracy of its knowledge
base

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 The Inference Engine

• Here, the knowledge is put to use to produce

solutions
• The engine is capable of performing deduction or
inference based on rules or facts
• Also capable of using inexact or fuzzy reasoning
based on probability or pattern matching

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 Knowledge

• Knowledge is a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject or a domain.

Knowledge is also the sum of what is currently known, and apparently knowledge is
power
• Those who possess knowledge are called experts

• Anyone can be considered a domain expert if he or she has deep knowledge (of both
facts and rules) and strong practical experience in a particular domain. The area of
the domain may be limited

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 Information
Information is a “class” that includes data and knowledge.

Data are facts about something. For example, this car is red; that
building has five stories; the temperature is 20°C; his name is Paul,
etc.

These are attribute-value pairs. In relational databases, attributes

are columns and values are the entries (numbers, symbols) in tables

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 Knowledge Acquisition [1]
• knowledge acquisition: process of extracting knowledge from an
expert, organizing it, and encoding it into a knowledge base
• knowledge elicitation: extracting knowledge from an expert
• knowledge acquisition is the principle bottleneck in expert system
development
• many techniques and theories about how to best do this
• more tools are appearing to help in this
– early example: inductive inference tables
• active research area
– psychologists are especially interested in elicitation issues, as it
is a fundamental problem of human psychology

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 Knowledge Acquisition [2]

Expert
data, problems,
questions

knowledge
concepts Formalized
solutions structured
knowledge
Knowledge KNOWLEDGE
engineer BASE

Needs,
usability,
feedback

Prototypes,
needs queries

End user
Also: other experts, literature
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 Steps in knowledge acquisition
1. Collect: (elicitation)
- getting the knowledge out of the expert
- most difficult step
- lots of strategies
2. Interpret:
- review collected knowledge, organize, filter
3. Analyze:
- determining types of knowledge, conceptual relationships
- determining appropriate knowledge representation & inference
structure
4. Design: extracting more knowledge after using above principles

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