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Artificial Intelligence

THE ROLE OF AI IN COMPUTER peting treatments or identify new ones. An educator
SCIENCE might find relevant background materials, including
While precise definitions are still the subject of debate, AI information about similar courses taught elsewhere.
may be usefully thought of as the branch of computer sci- Intelligent project coaches (IPCs) could function as
ence that is concerned with the automation of intelligent coworkers, assisting and collaborating with design or
behavior. The intent of AI is to develop systems that have operations teams for complex systems. Such systems could
the ability to perceive and to learn, to accomplish physical
recall the rationale of previous decisions and, in times of
tasks, and to emulate human decision making. AI seeks to
crisis, explain the methods and reasoning previously used
design and develop intelligent agents as well as to under-
to handle that situation. An IPC for aircraft design could
stand them.
enhance collaboration by keeping communication flow-
AI research has proven to be the breeding ground for
computer science subdisciplines such as pattern recogni- ing among the large, distributed design staff, the program
tion, image processing, neural networks, natural language managers, the customer, and the subcontractors.
processing, and game theory. For example, optical charac- Robot teams could contribute to manufacturing by
ter recognition software that transcribes handwritten char- operating in a dynamic environment with minimal instru-
acters into typed text (notably with tablet personal mentation, thus providing the benefits of economies of
computers and personal digital assistants) was initially a scale. They could also participate in automating sophisti-
focus of AI research. cated laboratory procedures that require sensing, manipu-
Additionally, expert systems used in business applica- lation, planning, and transport. The AI robots could work
tions owe their existence to AI. Manufacturing companies in dangerous environments with no threat to their human
use inventory applications that track both production lev- builders.
els and sales to determine when and how much of specific
supplies are needed to produce orders in the pipeline.
SUMMARY
Genetic algorithms are employed by financial planners to
assess the best combination of investment opportunities A variety of disciplines have influenced the development
for their clients. Other examples include data mining of AI. These include philosophy (logic), mathematics
applications, surveillance programs, and facial recognition (computability, algorithms), psychology (cognition), engi-
applications. neering (computer hardware and software), and linguistics
Multiagent systems are also based on AI research. Use (knowledge representation and natural-language process-
of these systems has been driven by the recognition that ing). As AI continues to redefine itself, the practical appli-
intelligence may be reflected by the collective behaviors of cation of the field will change.
large numbers of very simple interacting members of a
AI supports national competitiveness as it depends
community of agents. These agents can be computers, increasingly on capacities for accessing, processing, and
software modules, or virtually any object that can perceive analyzing information. The computer systems used for
aspects of its environment and proceed in a rational way such purposes must also be intelligent. Health-care
toward accomplishing a goal.
providers require easy access to information systems so
Four types of systems will have a substantial impact
they can track health-care delivery and identify the most
on applications: intelligent simulation, information-
effective medical treatments for their patients’ conditions.
resource specialists, intelligent project coaches, and robot
Crisis management teams must be able to explore alterna-
teams.
tive courses of action and make critical decisions. Educa-
Intelligent simulations generate realistic simulated
worlds that enable extensive affordable training and edu- tors need systems that adapt to a student’s individual
needs and abilities. Businesses require flexible manufac-
cation which can be made available any time and any-
where. Examples might be hurricane crisis management, turing and software design aids to maintain their leader-
exploration of the impacts of different economic theo- ship position in information technology, and to regain it
ries, tests of products on simulated customers, and tech- in manufacturing. AI will continue to evolve toward a
nological design testing features through simulation that rational, logical machine presence that will support and
would cost millions of dollars to test using an actual pro- enhance human endeavors.
totype.
SEE ALSO Information Processing; Interactive Technology
Information-resource specialist systems (IRSS) will
enable easy access to information related to a specific
problem. For instance, a rural doctor whose patient pres- Mark J. Snyder
ents with a rare condition might use IRSS to assess com- Lisa E. Gueldenzoph

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 35