The Quest for Artificial Intelligence

The definitive history of artificial intelligence (AI), from the dreams of early pioneers to the achievements of modern research.

Nils J. Nilsson (Author)

9780521116398, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 October 2009

578 pages, 227 b/w illus. 2 tables
24 x 16 x 3 cm, 0.92 kg

'… [a] balanced look at what AI has been able to do during its first 50 years of existence. His personal recollections and the rationale behind many decisions, as retold by an insider, make this book a unique contribution, interesting both for the informed and for the general reader. Both kinds of readers can learn a lot from Nilsson's book about the evolution of this now-mature research field. The book is written in a friendly conversational style, without any unnecessary mathematical formalisms, and is richly illustrated with many diagrams that depict representative AI systems and photographs of the many innovators that led to their development.' Fernando Berzal, Reviews.com

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field within computer science that is attempting to build enhanced intelligence into computer systems. This book traces the history of the subject, from the early dreams of eighteenth-century (and earlier) pioneers to the more successful work of today's AI engineers. AI is becoming more and more a part of everyone's life. The technology is already embedded in face-recognizing cameras, speech-recognition software, Internet search engines, and health-care robots, among other applications. The book's many diagrams and easy-to-understand descriptions of AI programs will help the casual reader gain an understanding of how these and other AI systems actually work. Its thorough (but unobtrusive) end-of-chapter notes containing citations to important source materials will be of great use to AI scholars and researchers. This book promises to be the definitive history of a field that has captivated the imaginations of scientists, philosophers, and writers for centuries.

Part I. Beginnings: 1. Dreams and dreamers
2. Clues
Part II. Early Explorations: 1950s and 1960s: 3. Gatherings
4. Pattern recognition
5. Early heuristic programs
6. Semantic representations
7. Natural language processing
8. 1960s infrastructure
Part III. Efflorescence: Mid-1960s to Mid-1970s: 9. Computer vision
10. 'Hand-Eye' research
11. Knowledge representation and reasoning
12. Mobile robots
13. Progress in natural language processing
14. Game playing
15. The dendral project
16. Conferences, books, and funding
Part IV. Applications and Specializations: 1970s to Early 1980s: 17. Speech recognition and understanding systems
18. Consulting systems
19. Understanding queries and signals
20. Progress in computer vision
21. Boomtimes
Part V. 'New Generation' Projects: 22. The Japanese create a stir
23. Darpa's strategic computing program
Part VI. Entr'acte: 24. Speed bumps
25. Controversies and alternative paradigms
Part VII. The Growing Armamentarium: From the 1980s Onward: 26. Reasoning and representation
27. Other approaches to reasoning and representation
28. Bayesian networks
29. Machine learning
30. Natural languages and natural scenes
31. Intelligent system architectures
Part VIII. Modern AI: Today and Tomorrow: 32. Extraordinary achievements
33. Ubiquitous artificial intelligence
34. Smart tools
35. The quest continues.

Subject Areas: Artificial intelligence [UYQ], History of science [PDX]