Aside on AI Will computers ever be intelligent? Really intelligent? Tasks that previously were thought to require

intelligence: adding and subtracting playing chess driving a car recognizing speech or handwriting translating to a foreign language proving mathematical theorems

What does it mean to say that a computer is intelligent?

Is that the same as being a person? What is a person? Is a computer program a person? Is a person a computer program?

Achieving “Intelligence” How do AI program achieve

“intelligent” behavior? Currently, four main paradigms:

Neural Nets Genetic Algorithms Symbolic knowledge representation and

search Statistical machine learning

Neural Nets Model behavior of neurons Each neuron has many Inputs Output is weighted sum of inputs Training: adjusting the weights to improve

behavior Learning: networks improve performance with

time Feedback: large networks with feedback have

very complicated behavior (pondering? dreams?)

Success: many (small) problems are handled well; bigger problems are problematic

Genetic Algorithms Many similar simulated organisms, each with

its own program governing behavior The organisms are run for a time, and their

behavior is measured for fitness The more successful organisms are more

likely to cross (reproduce) Random mutations can also be introduced in

the programs Each generation tends to have more

successful behavior than the last, on average Results: good for some optimization problems

Statistical machine learning Gather much data Find patterns

Symbolic AI Represent a problem as a collection of logic

(symbolic) statements Characterize the initial condition symbolically Characterize goal state symbolically Characterize actions that are possible in the

world as productions or changes to the initial condition

Search through possible actions to find a path to the goal

Google’s knowledge graph

Search in Artificial Intelligence Represent your problem as a graph where nodes

are states and edges are operators that go between states

Define problem states (nodes) Identify start and goal states Define operators (edges) Use DFS or BFS to find goal

Example: Missionaries and cannibals problem states: (3,3,1) 3 missionaries, 3 cannibals, and 1

boat on left side of river. Operators: one or two people cross the river in the

boat, so that there isn’t a cannibal majority on either side.

Goal: get to the other side? Moves? (331)–(220)–(321)–(210)–(221)–(020)–(031)–(010)–(021)–

(000)

Computer Chess How would you program a computer to

play chess?

Brute force or intelligence? The slow rise of computer chess

Game Playing We could use DFS but…can’t search whole

tree! limit depth of search and use an evaluation function

We could use DFS but…how do we know which move the opponent will choose?

minimax algorithm: assume the opponent does what looks best.

i.e. at nodes where it is the human’s turn, pick the move that looks best for human. Where computer’s turn, pick the move that looks best for the computer

DFS/BFS Resource Requirements DFS:

Runtime?O(n), n=number of nodes expanded

Space required?O(d), d = depth of search

Can I cut off a search after 3 seconds? BFS:

Runtime? O(n) Space required?

O(breadth of tree) = O(bd), b=branching factor

Can I cut off a search after 3 seconds? Staged DFS: do a DFS of depth 1, 2, 3, … until out of time

Runtime?O(n)

Space required? O(d)

Mankalah An ancient gamed called Kalah or Mankalah uses stones and

pits: 6 to a side and one on each end. 4 stones are initially placed in each side pit. None are in the

end pits (called Kalahs – a player’s kalah is on her right). A move consists of picking up the stones in a pit and

distributing them, one at a time, in successive pits. If the last stone is placed in your Kalah, you go again If the last stone is placed in an empty pit on your side, you

capture the stones in that pit and the opposite one, on the opponent’s side of the board. These are put into your Kalah.

The game ends when one player has no stones left; the other player puts all the remaining stones on her side into her Kalah.

Whoever ends with more stones in her Kalah wins.

Can you make your Kalah program smarter than Bonzo?

Mankalah minimaxResult minimaxVal(Board b, int d) // d is depth if (b.GameOver() or d==0) return new Result(0, evaluate(b)) if (b.whoseMove()==Board.TOP) //TOP is MAX bestVal = -infinity for (move=first; move<=last; move++) if (b.legalMove(move) [and time not expired]) Board b1 = new Board(b) //duplicate board b1.makeMove(move) //make the move val=minimaxVal(b1,d-1) //find its value if (val>bestVal) //remember if

best bestVal=val; bestMove=move else // similarly for BOTTOM’s move

return new Result(bestMove,bestVal);

Parallelizing minimax? Algorithm- or data-parallelism?

C# Task Parallel Library (TPL)

Other ideas for improving play? Better evaluation function Optimize program speed Learning for feature-weight tuning Opening or closing book Alpha-beta pruning with move

reordering (potentially 33% deeper search)

Heuristic Search Techniques What do you do when the search space

is very large or infinite?

We’ll study three more AI search algorithms: Backtracking search Greedy search (Best-first) A*

Example: the 8-puzzle How would you use AI techniques to

solve the 8-puzzle problem?

Symbolic AI solution Start state: 5 4 0 6 1 8 7 3 2 (e.g.) Goal state: 1 2 3 8 0 4 7 6 5 Edges: sliding a tile. From start state:

5 4 8 6 1 0 7 3 2 5 0 4 6 1 8 7 3 2

What search algorithm should I use?

Backtracking search Start at the start state Search in any direction Backtrack when stuck This is really the same as Used very frequently

E.g. Perl regular expression matching E.g. finding a traveling salesman’s circuit E.g. graph coloring

Depth-first search

Is there any way I can be smarter than a blind search?

09-08-04

How to get from Arad to Bucharest? How to get from Isai to Fagaras?

Greedy Search (Best-first) Best-first search: like DFS, but pick the

path that gets you closest to the goal first

Need a measure of distance from the goalh(n) = estimated cost of cheapest path from n to

goalh(n) is a heuristic

Analysis Greed tends to work quite well (despite being one

of the seven deadly sins) But, it doesn’t always find the shortest path Susceptible to false starts May go down an infinite path with no way to reach

goal How to ensure you’ll find the best solution?

A* Can we apply the ideas of Dijkstra’s

algorithm? Pay attention to total path length, not

just distance to the goalf(n) = g(n) + h(n)g(n) = distance traveled so farh(n) = estimated remaining distance

(heuristic) A*: do a DFS-like search with lowest f(n)

first Does this guarantee an optimal

solution?

Optimality of A* Suppose h(n) never overestimates

(such heuristics are called admissible) Note that f(n) always increases as

search progresses A* is complete and optimal (though

often slower than best-first search) The first limitation you are likely to run

into with A* search: not enough RAM in your computer…

Heuristics for the 8-puzzle What would a good, admissible heuristic

be for the 8-puzzle? h1: number of tiles out of place h2: total distance of squares from

destinations

Results of A* Consider solving the 8-puzzle by search,

using the following algorithms DFS BFS IDS (iterative deepening search): like staged

DFS. A* with heuristic h1 A* with heuristic h2

Will each be able to find the shortest solution?

Which one will find it most quickly? Which ones will use lots of memory?

Search Cost Effective Branching Factor

IDS A*(h1) A*(h2) IDS A*(h1) A*(h2)

2 10 6 6 2.45 1.79 1.79

4 112 13 12 2.87 1.48 1.45

6 680 20 18 2.73 1.34 1.30

8 6384 39 25 2.80 1.33 1.24

10 47127 93 39 2.79 1.38 1.22

12 364404 227 73 2.78 1.42 1.24

14 3473941 539 113 2.83 1.44 1.23

16 1301 211 1.45 1.25

18 3056 363 1.46 1.26

20 7276 676 1.47 1.27

22 18094 1219 1.48 1.28

24 39135 1641 1.48 1.26

AI and Personhood AI proponents:

a machine as complex as a brain would be as intelligent as a person

maybe it would be a person. Hidden assumptions:

intelligence: I/O, storage, and processing capabilities

the brain: a machine whose function can be duplicated by other machines (and function is what matters)

a person: an intelligent hunk of meat

What makes a person? Is there anything to being a person

besides “intelligence”? Consciousness: is it an ‘epiphenomenon’ –

or can it affect the body? Will: do we make real choices, or are they

determined by the laws of physics? Affections: is there a ‘love’ algorithm? Spirit: is there a human capability to know

God beyond the five sense? Moral responsibility: what are you doing

when you kick your computer – punishment?

What are these views called? “all the world (including the brain and

mind) operate according to physical laws” Materialism [or metaphysical materialism]

“There is a part of the mind (or soul or spirit) that is outside of nature, exempt from physical laws” Dualism [or Cartesian dualism]

“The mind is the program running on the ‘wet-ware’ of the brain” Functionalism [or non-reductive

materialism]

Non-Reductive Materialism Characteristics

there is no non-physical part of a person mental processes can be localized in the brain consciousness, will, etc. are real, but they are an

‘emergent property’ of brain function Questions

How could there be a real will or moral responsibility?

Where is the intensionality or meaning? What then can a verse like Matt. 10:28 mean? [Do not

be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.] What about the existence of angels, God if there is

no second substance? What of church history and doctrine?

Cartesian Dualism Characteristics

The soul is a second substance, created by God, like the Angels

The mind is a faculty of the soul, and it can affect the body

Whatever the brain does, it is not the mind Questions

A second substance is messy… Where does this soul come from? How does it affect

the body without breaking the laws of nature? It seems that current research is localizing more and

more mental processes in the brain… What does this do to the science of AI?