Vidyavardhini’s College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Information Technology

Introduction to AI
-Mrs. Anagha Patil
Objectives :
• Introduction to AI
• AI techniques
• Problem Formulation
• Intelligent Agents
• Structure of Intelligent agents
• Types of Agents
• Agent Environments PEAS representation for an Agent
• Application areas of AI

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CO1: Identify the building blocks of AI as
presented in terms of intelligent agents.

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Intelligence...
1. According to the first definition
Someone’s intelligence is his ability to understand and learn things.
2. From the second definition
• Intelligence is the ability to think and understand instead of doing
things by instinct or automatically.
• These definitions lead us to define what ‘Thinking’ is :
‘Thinking is the activity of using your brain to consider a problem or to
create an idea’.

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Introduction to AI....

Fig. 1.1 Some definitions of artificialAnagha

intelligence,
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AI Applications:
1. Advanced web search engines (e.g. Google)
2. Recommendation systems (used by You Tube, Amazon and Netflix)
3. Understanding human speech (such as Siri and Alexa),
4. Self-driving cars (e.g. Tesla)
5. Automated decision – making and competing at the highest level in
strategic game systems (such as chess).

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Information, Knowledge And Intelligence
Information
Information usually has some meaning and purpose that is; data
within a context can be considered as information.
Knowledge
Knowledge is a justified true belief. Knowledge is a store of
information proven useful for a capacity to act.
Intelligence
Unlike belief and knowledge, intelligence is not information: it is
a process, or an innate capacity to use information in order to respond
to ever-changing requirements.
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Human Intelligence
• Human intelligence is the intellectual capacity of humans, which
is characterized by perception, consciousness, self-awareness, and
volition.
• Intelligence enables humans to remember description of things
and use those descriptions in future behaviours. It is a cognitive
process.
• It gives humans the cognitive abilities to learn, from concepts,
understand, and reason, including the capacities to recognize patterns,
comprehend ideas, plan, solve problems, and use language to
communicate. Intelligence enables humans to experience and think.

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Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial intelligence (or AI) is both the intelligence of machines
and the branch of computer science which aims to create it, through
“the study and design of intelligent agents” or “rational agents”.
• Whereas; an intelligence agent is a system that perceives its
environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of
success.

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Conventional Computing and Intelligence Computing
Table 1.1 Difference between Conventional Computing and Intelligence Computing

Sr. No. Parameters Intelligence computing Conventional computing

1. Solution Does not guarantee a solution to a Guarantees a solution to a given problem.

given problem.

2. Results Produces results that may not be Produces results that are consistent and
reliable or consistent. reliable.

3. Instructions Solves the problem without specific Solves the given problem according to the
program instructions. programmer’s exact instructions (algorithm).

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History of Artificial Intelligence

Fig. 1.2 History of AI 11

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Advantages of AI
1. More powerful and more useful computers.
2. New and improved interfaces
3. Solving new problems.
4. Better handling of information
5. Relieves information overload.
6. Conversion of information into knowledge

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Disadvantages of AI
1. Increased costs.
2. Difficulty with software development - slow and expensive.
3. Few experienced programmers.
4. A Few practical products have reached the market as yet.

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Major Components of AI

Fig. 1.3 Major Components of AI 14

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Major Components of AI....
Any AI system has four major components :
1. Knowledge representation.
2. Heuristic search.
3. AI programming languages and tools.
4. AI hardware.

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Knowledge Representation
• It expresses how the beliefs, intentions, and judgements of an
intelligent agent can be expressed suitably for automated reasoning.
One of the primary purposes is modelling intelligent behaviour for an
agent.
• It represents information from the real world for a computer to
understand and then utilise this knowledge to solve complex real-life
problems, like communicating with human-beings in natural language.
• It stores data in a database, and allows a machine to learn from
that knowledge and behave intelligently like a human being.

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Heuristic Search
• In mathematical optimisation and computer science, heuristic is
a technique designed for solving a problem more quickly when classic
methods fail to find any exact solution.
• This is achieved by trading optionality, completeness, accuracy,
or precision for speed. In a way, it can be considered a short-cut.
• A heuristic function ranks alternatives in search algorithms at
each balancing step based on available information to decide which
branch to follow.

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AI programming Languages and Tools
• Python
• Lisp
• R
• Prolog
• C++
• Javascript
• Java
• Haskell
• Julia

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AI Hardware
• An AI accelerator is a specialised hardware accelerator or
computer system designed to accelerate AI and machine learning
applications, including neural networks and machine vision.
• Applications include algorithms for robotics, internet of things
and other data-intensive or sensor-driven tasks.

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AI TECHNIQUES
An artificial intelligence technique is a method that exploits knowledge that
is represented so that, the knowledge captures generalizations and
situations that share properties which can be grouped together, rather than
being allowed in a separate representation.
Three important artificial intelligence techniques:
• Search : Provides a way of solving problems for which no more direct
approach is available.
• Use of knowledge : Provides a way of solving complex problems by
exploiting the structures of the objects that are involved.
• Abstraction : Provides a way of separating important features and
variations from many unimportant ones that would otherwise overwhelm
any process.

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SUB-AREAS OF AI
• Machine Learning
• NLP (Natural Language Processing)
• Automation and Robotics
• Machine Vision
• Expert System (ES)
• Neural Computing
• Automatic Programming
• Genetic Algorithm
• Fuzzy Logic
• Intelligent Agents

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INTELLIGENT AGENT
• An intelligent agent (IA) is an autonomous entity which observes
through sensors and acts upon an environment using actuators and
directs its activity towards achieving goals. (Perceive the environment,
make decision and take action to achieve goal(s))
• Intelligent agents may also learn or use knowledge to achieve their
goals.
• They may be very simple or very complex.
Example: a reflex machine such as a thermostat is an intelligent agent.
• An agent is anything that can perceive its environment through sensors
and acts upon that environment through effectors.

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• Agents can be classified into different types based on their
characteristics, such as whether they are reactive or proactive, whether
they have a fixed or dynamic environment, and whether they are single
or multi-agent systems.
• Reactive agents are those that respond to immediate stimuli from their
environment and take actions based on those stimuli.
• Proactive agents, on the other hand, take initiative and plan ahead to
achieve their goals.
• The environment in which an agent operates can also be fixed or
dynamic. Fixed environments have a static set of rules that do not
change, while dynamic environments are constantly changing and require
agents to adapt to new situations.
• Multi-agent systems involve multiple agents working together to achieve
a common goal. These agents may have to coordinate their actions and
communicate with each other to achieve their objectives. Agents are
used in a variety of applications, including robotics, gaming, and
intelligent systems.

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Structure of an agent
• Agent = Architecture + Agent program.
• Architecture = the machinery that an agent executes on. It is a
device with sensors and actuators, for example, a robotic car, a
camera, and a PC.
• Agent program = an implementation of an agent function. An agent
function is a map from the percept sequence(history of all that an
agent has perceived to date) to an action.

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Agent

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Agent’s interaction with environments

Fig. 1.4 How Agent interacts

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RATIONAL AGENT
• Rational agent in AI is an agent which has clear preference, models
uncertainty, and acts in a way to maximize its performance measure with
all possible actions.
• AI is about creating rational agents to use for some theory and decision
theory for various real-world phenomenons.
• The concept of rationality depends upon the following four things :
(i) The performance measure that defines the criterion of success.
(ii) Prior knowledge of the environment
(iii) Agent can perform the action
(iv) The percept sequence of the agent.

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Example
Vacuum cleaner Agent:
It cleans a square if it is dirty and moves to the next square if not;
(i) The performance measure is that it cleans a square if it is dirty, at
each time.
(ii) The area of space of the floor or ‘geography’ of the environment is
known as ‘a priori’. Clean squares stay clean and sucking cleans the current
square. The ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ actions move the agent left and right.
(iii) Left, right and suck are the only available actions of the agent.
(iv) The agent correctly perceives its location, if there is dirt. Under these
circumstances, we say that the agent is ‘rational’.
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Intelligent Agents
• Intelligent agents can be grouped into the following classes based
on their degree of perceived intelligence and capability:
• Simple reflex agents
• Model-based agent
• Goal-based agent
• Utility-Based Agents
• Learning Agent

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 Table 1.2 Different Intelligent Agents

Agent Example
Simple reflex The vacuum promises to sense dirt and debris on floors and
agents clean those areas accordingly. This is an example of a
simple reflex agent that operates on the condition (dirty
floors) to initiate an action (vacuuming).

Model-based Some examples of items with model-based agents aboard

agent example include Roomba vacuum cleaner and the autonomous car
known as Waymo. Both interact with their environments
by using what they know, an internal model of the world
and their on-board sensors as well, to make moment-to-
moment decisions about their actions.

Goal-based Google’s Waymo driverless cars are good examples of a

agent example goal-based agent when they are programmed with an end
destination, or goal, in mind. The car will then ‘think’ and
make the right-decisions in order to deliver the passenger
where they intend to go.
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Omniscience and Rationality
• An omniscient’s agent knows the exact outcome of its actions and
act accordingly, but in practice it is impossible.
• In omniscience there is a total perfection.
• Rationality is not same as perfection.
• Rationality tries to maximise the expected performance while
perfection gives actual total performance.
• A rational agent is not only supposed to gather information but also
to learn what it perceives.
• A rational agent must be autonomous - it is supposed to learn what
it can, in order to compensate for partial prior knowledge.

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STRUCTURE OF INTELLIGENT AGENTS
The Intelligent Agent structure consists of three main parts:
architecture, agent function and agent programme.
Architecture refers to machinery or devices that consist of actuators
and sensors. The IA executes on this machinery.

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Simple Reflex Agent
• A simple reflex agent is a ‘type of intelligent agent’ that performs actions based
solely on the current situation. (ignores the percept history)
• The ‘simple reflex agent’ works on condition-action rule, which means it maps
the current state to action.
• If the condition is true, then the action is taken, else not. This agent function
only succeeds when the environment is fully observable.
• This agent selects actions based on the agent’s current perception, and not
based on past perceptions. For simple reflex agents operating in partially
observable environments, infinite loops are often unavoidable. It may be
possible to escape from infinite loops if the agent can randomize its actions.
Issues:
• Very limited intelligence.
• No knowledge of non-perceptual parts of the state is required.
• Usually too big to generate and store.
• If there occurs any change in the environment, then the collection of rules
needs to be updated.
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Simple Reflex Agent

Function : SIMPLE–REFLEX–AGENT (percent)

returns on action.
Static : Rules, a set of condition – action rules.
State <- INTERPRET – INPUT (percept)
Rule <- RULE – MATCH (State, rules)
Action <- RULE – ACTION (rule)
Return Action

Fig. 1.5 Structure of Simple Reflex Agent

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Model-based Reflex Agent
• A model-based reflex agent needs memory for storing the precept
history; it uses the percept-history to help to reveal the current
unobservable aspects of the environment.
• Model-based reflex agents are made to deal with partial
accessibility; they do this by keeping track of the world it can see
now. It does this by keeping an internal state that depends on what
it has seen before, so it holds information on the unobserved
aspects of the current state.
• The agent has to keep track of the internal state which is adjusted
by each percept and that depends on the percept history. The
current state is stored inside the agent which maintains some kind
of structure describing the part of the world which cannot be seen.

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Model-based Reflex Agent

Function REFLEX-AGENT WITH-STATE (percept)

Returns an action.
Static : State, a description of the current world state
rules, a set condition-action rules.
action, the most recent action, initially none.
State  UPDATE – STATE (State, action, percept)
Rule  RULE – MATCH (State, rules)
Action  RULE – ACTION (rule)
Return Action

Fig. 1.6 Structure of Model-based Reflex Agent

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A Goal-based Reflex Agent
• A goal-based reflex agent has a goal and has a strategy to reach that goal.
All actions are taken to reach this goal. Their every action is intended to
reduce their distance from the goal. This allows the agent a way to
choose among multiple possibilities, selecting the one which reaches a
goal state.
• A goal-based agent has an agenda. Unlike a simple reflex agent that
makes decisions based solely on the current environment, a goal-based
agent is capable of thinking beyond the present moment to decide the
best actions to take in order to achieve its goal.
• Goal-based agents expand the capabilities of the model-based agent by
having the ‘goal’ information. They choose an action, so that they can
achieve the goal.
• A goal-based algorithm uses searching and planning to act in the most-
efficient solution to achieve the goal.

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A Goal-based Reflex Agent

Fig. 1.7 Structure of Goal-based Reflex Agent

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Utility-based agent

Fig. 1.8 Structure of Utility based Agent

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Utility-based agent
• When there are multiple possible alternatives, then to decide which one
is best, utility-based agents are used. They choose actions based on a
preference (utility) for each state.
• An utility-based reflex agent is like the goal-based agent but with
measure of ‘how much happy’ an action would make it rather than the
goal-based binary feedback [happy, unhappy].
• Utility describes how “happy” the agent is. Because of the uncertainty in
the world, a utility agent chooses the action that maximizes the expected
utility. A utility function maps a state onto a real number which describes
the associated degree of happiness.
• This kind of agents provides the best solution. An example is the route
recommendation system which solves the ‘best’ route to reach a
destination.
• The agents which are developed having their end-uses as building blocks
are called utility-based agents.
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Learning Agents
• A learning agent is an agent capable of learning from experience.
• It has the capability of automatic acquisition and integration into
the system.
• A learning agent is an agent capable of learning from experience. It
has the capability of automatic acquisition and integration into the
system.

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Learning Agents
A learning agent has mainly four conceptual components, which are:
• Learning element: It is responsible for making improvements by
learning from the environment.
• Critic: The learning element takes feedback from critics which
describes how well the agent is doing with respect to a fixed
performance standard.
• Performance element: It is responsible for selecting external action.
• Problem Generator: This component is responsible for suggesting
actions that will lead to new and informative experiences.

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Block diagram of learning agent

Fig. 1.10 Structure of Learning Agent

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Problem Characteristics of IA
(1) Is the problem decomposable ?
(2) Can solution steps be ignored or undone?
(3) Is the Universal Predictable ?
(4) Is good solution absolute or relative ?
(5) The knowledge base consistent ?
(6) What is the role of Knowledge?
(7) Does the task require interaction with the person.
(8) Problem Classification

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P E A S (PERFORMANCE MEASURE, ENVIRONMENT,
ACTUATOR AND SENSOR) REPRESENTATION IN AI
(1) Performance Measure
Performance measure is the unit to define the success of an agent. Performance varies with agents
based on their different precept.
(2) Environment
Environment is the surrounding of an agent at every instant. It keeps changing with time if the agent is
set in motion. There are 5 Major types of environments :
• (i) Fully observable and partially observable
• (ii) Episodic and sequential
• (iii) Static and Dynamic
• (iv) Discrete and continuous
• (v)Deterministic and stochastic
(3) Actuator
Actuator is a part of the agent that delivers the output of an action to the environment.
(4) Sensor
Sensors are the receptive parts of an agent which takes in the input for the agent.

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Example
Table 1.3 PEAS for different agents

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Questions from exam point of view:
• PEAS representation of…
• AI and its major components
• Applications of AI
• Agent and types of agents

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Activity Time….
Check google classroom…

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