DATA 240 AI Fundamentals - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering foundational concepts, definitions, historical milestones, and biological inspirations in Artificial Intelligence based on DATA 240 AI Fundamentals lecture notes.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems, formally initiated as a discipline in 1956.

Thinking Humanly

An approach to defining AI focused on studying and modeling internal human mental processes, such as decision-making, problem-solving, and learning.

Thinking Rationally

The 'laws of thought' approach to AI that uses formal logic and mathematics to model ideal, correct reasoning.

Acting Humanly

An approach to defining AI centered on creating machines that perform functions requiring human intelligence, operationally evaluated by the Turing Test.

Acting Rationally

The rational agent approach to AI that creates intelligent agents designed to achieve the best or best expected outcome based on available information.

Turing Test

An operational test for machine intelligence proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 (originally called the Imitation Game), where a computer passes if a human interrogator cannot distinguish its text responses from a human's.

Total Turing Test

An expanded version of the Turing Test that includes physical interaction with the world, evaluating computer vision and robotics.

Introspection

A technique for studying human thought by directly observing and documenting one's own internal thinking and reasoning patterns.

General Problem Solver (GPS)

An early AI program created by Newell & Simon in 1961 designed specifically to mimic human reasoning steps rather than just solve problems correctly.

Cognitive Science

An interdisciplinary field combining AI, psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics to construct testable theories of how the human mind works.

Syllogism

A formal, structured logical argument formulated by Aristotle that allows conclusions to be generated mechanically from premises (e.g., 'All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore Socrates is mortal').

Logicist Approach

An AI development strategy that constructs intelligent systems by expressing problems and knowledge in formal logical rules.

Agent

Anything that perceives its environment through sensors and acts upon that environment.

Rational Agent

An agent that selects the action that achieves the best outcome, or the best expected outcome when facing uncertainty.

Dendrites

Branch-like structures of a biological neuron that receive incoming signals, corresponding to the inputs or features fed into a node in an artificial neural network.

Cell Body (Soma)

The central part of a biological neuron that processes incoming signals, functioning like the activation function processing weighted inputs in an artificial neural network.

Axon

The projection of a biological neuron that carries output signals to other cells, equivalent to the output sent to the next layer in an artificial neural network.

Synapses

Junctions where biological neurons transmit signals to one another, whose variable strengths correspond to weights in an artificial neural network.

Control Theory

A field of engineering and mathematics focused on creating self-managing systems through methods like stochastic optimal control to maximize an objective function over time.

AI-Complete

A classification of difficult AI problems, such as fully understanding natural language, whose complete solution requires solving the entire problem of human intelligence.

Stanley

An AI-powered autonomous vehicle that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge by navigating rough terrain using cameras, radar, and sensors.

Remote Agent

The first AI program implemented by NASA to autonomously plan and manage spacecraft operations.

DART

An automated AI logistics system used during the 1991 Gulf War to plan complex transport operations involving tens of thousands of vehicles and supplies.