[June 23 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of
Alan Turing, one of the founders of the theory and
practice of computing. Among Turing's many original
contributions were his explorations of the topic of
artificial (or machine) intelligence. To mark the Turing
centennial we recommend this very interesting and
accessible essay on AI -- moderator.]

The Manifest Destiny of Artificial Intelligence

     Will AI create mindlike machines, or will it show
     how much a mindless machine can do?

Brian Hayes
American Scientist
July-August 2012
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2012/4/the-manifest-destiny-of-artificial-intelligence

Artificial intelligence began with an ambitious research
agenda: To endow machines with some of the traits we
value most highly in ourselves-the faculty of reason,
skill in solving problems, creativity, the capacity to
learn from experience. Early results were promising.
Computers were programmed to play checkers and chess, to
prove theorems in geometry, to solve analogy puzzles
from IQ tests, to recognize letters of the alphabet.
Marvin Minsky, one of the pioneers, declared in 1961:
"We are on the threshold of an era that will be strongly
influenced, and quite possibly dominated, by intelligent
problem-solving machines."

Fifty years later, problem-solving machines are a
familiar presence in daily life. Computer programs
suggest the best route through cross-town traffic,
recommend movies you might like to see, recognize faces
in photographs, transcribe your voicemail messages and
translate documents from one language to another. As for
checkers and chess, computers are not merely good
players; they are unbeatable. Even on the television
quiz show Jeopardy, the best human contestants were
trounced by a computer.

In spite of these achievements, the status of artificial
intelligence remains unsettled. We have many clever
gadgets, but it's not at all clear they add up to a
"thinking machine." Their methods and inner mechanisms
seem nothing like human mental processes. Perhaps we
should not be bragging about how smart our machines have
become; rather, we should marvel at how much those
machines accomplish without any genuine intelligence.

For the entire article, go to:
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2012/4/the-manifest-destiny-of-artificial-intelligence

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