Artificial intelligence is a concept that was born almost at the same time as computer science. From the start, researchers have tried to imitate the way humans think, trying to endow computers with some form of intelligence. Currently, the most accepted definition of the field is that of the study of “intelligent agents. “Intelligent agents are systems that, by some means, are capable of perceiving their surroundings and, in some way, reacting to them with the intention of achieving a set of goals.
One of the simplest examples of an intelligent agent is a thermostat. It perceives the temperature of a room (its environment), and interacts with it to achieve a specific temperature (its goals). In this case, the environment is part of the real world, but that is not necessarily the case for all intelligent agents. Also, the objectives of this system require relatively simple logic to be achieved, but this would not suffice given an increase in the complexity of the objectives or the environment.
Many techniques and technologies have been proposed over decades, with various degrees of success. Some have been so successful in their respective fields that they have become commonplace and stopped being considered “intelligence”. Other techniques have had waves of resurgence as technology advances, such as artificial neural networks. These are a subset of “Machine learning”: the design of systems that learn from their experience and adapt to their environment. Other techniques rely on mathematical optimization, statistics or logic systems to achieve this goal.