social and emergent models

Main article: evolutionary computation

Several algorithms for learning use tools from evolutionary computation, such as genetic algorithms,[138][139] swarm intelligence.[140] and genetic programming.[141][142]

Control theory

Control theory, the grandchild of cybernetics, has many important applications, especially in robotics.[143]

Specialized languages

AI researchers have developed several specialized languages for AI research:

* IPL, one of the first programming languages, developed by Alan Newell, Herbert Simon and J. C. Shaw.[144]

* Lisp[145] was developed by John McCarthy at MIT in 1958.[146] There are many dialects of Lisp in use today.
* Prolog,[147] a language based on logic programming, was invented by French researchers Alain Colmerauer and Phillipe Roussel, in collaboration with Robert Kowalski of the University of Edinburgh.[109]
* STRIPS, a planning language developed at Stanford in the 1960s.
* Planner developed at MIT around the same time.

AI applications are also often written in standard languages like C++ and languages designed for mathematics, such as Matlab and Lush.

Evaluating artificial intelligence

How can one determine if an agent is intelligent? In 1950, Alan Turing proposed a general procedure to test the intelligence of an agent now known as the Turing test. This procedure allows almost all the major problems of artificial intelligence to be tested. However, it is a very difficult challenge and at present all agents fail.

Artificial intelligence can also be evaluated on specific problems such as small problems in chemistry, hand-writing recognition and game-playing. Such tests have been termed subject matter expert Turing tests. Smaller problems provide more achievable goals and there are an ever-increasing number of positive results.

The broad classes of outcome for an AI test are:

* optimal: it is not possible to perform better
* strong super-human: performs better than all humans
* super-human: performs better than most humans
* sub-human: performs worse than most humans

For example, performance at checkers (draughts) is optimal,[148] performance at chess is super-human and nearing strong super-human,[149] and performance at many everyday tasks performed by humans is sub-human.

Competitions and prizes



There are a number of competitions and prizes to promote research in artificial intelligence. The main areas promoted are: general machine intelligence, conversational behaviour, data-mining, driverless cars, robot soccer and games.

Applications of artificial intelligence



Artificial intelligence has successfully been used in a wide range of fields including medical diagnosis, stock trading, robot control, law, scientific discovery and toys. Frequently, when a technique reaches mainstream use it is no longer considered artificial intelligence, sometimes described as the AI effect.[150] It may also become integrated into artificial life.