| In my first article, "Why Has Artificial Intelligence | | | | must have a way of gathering information from |
| Failed to Produce Results" I talked about why AI | | | | the outside world. |
| has failed so far. This is a follow on from that | | | | This means that eyes, ears and smell etc. are an |
| article which talks about what we need to get a | | | | essential element in intelligence. It is not surprising |
| system working. | | | | that AI has proven so difficult; to do it properly |
| As a recap, I believe an intelligent system must | | | | the system requires senses. What can we do |
| have: | | | | about this? Obviously we can give our systems |
| Priority (Goals). | | | | eyes and ears but this is a complex problem in its |
| Advantage Assessment. | | | | own right and could takes years just to get |
| Moods (Emotion). | | | | something working. So how can we give our |
| Assumed Knowledge. | | | | system a means of gathering data? There are |
| If we can implement these features into a | | | | two choices here; we either give it information or |
| software program then the intelligence it produces | | | | we allow our system to interact with other |
| would be a real step in the right direction. | | | | "systems". By systems I mean either people or |
| Assumed knowledge. | | | | the internet. In the past the only choices were to |
| What is the capital of France? | | | | give the test systems data or allow interaction |
| Where do birds live? | | | | with other people via a terminal. Now we have a |
| What is cold? | | | | new and much better option, we can allow our |
| These may sound like silly questions but they are | | | | system access to the internet directly; it can then |
| of real importance. Any AI system MUST KNOW | | | | scan web content and gather information from |
| the answers to these questions, but how is this | | | | there. This is a vastly superior method as the |
| to be done, what does "know" even mean? | | | | internet has video, sound as well as text data and |
| A dictionary definition of know. | | | | would allow a system to get data from multiple |
| To perceive directly; grasp in the mind with clarity | | | | sources and compare for accuracy. |
| or certainty. | | | | In the first instance we give a system a set of |
| To regard as true beyond doubt. | | | | data from dictionaries; encyclopedias etc and then |
| To have a practical understanding of, as through | | | | allow it to explore the internet at its leisure. |
| experience; be skilled in | | | | Since we won't have proper senses to begin with |
| To have fixed in the mind. | | | | I suggest that we just give our system a |
| To have experience of. | | | | comprehensive set of dictionaries and |
| To perceive as familiar; recognize. | | | | encyclopedia's etc to give it a starting point. This |
| To be acquainted with. | | | | data will have to be organized so that it can be |
| To be able to distinguish; recognize as distinct. | | | | searched quickly, allow easy editing and additions |
| To discern the character or nature of. | | | | and be multimedia so that we can store pictures, |
| To possess knowledge, understanding, or | | | | sounds and video. Obviously we need a full text |
| information. | | | | indexed database. Actually we need more than |
| To be cognizant or aware. | | | | this in the longer term since we will want to |
| It can be seen that "know" means "store | | | | search for pictures based on picture input and |
| information in the brain". It may be a smell, an | | | | sound based on sound fragments but a full text |
| image or a feeling, but they are all just storage of | | | | index is a start. How this data is stored and |
| sensory input. | | | | retrieved will be talked about in more detail in a |
| This brings me to an interesting point. As we | | | | later article. |
| have seen knowledge is an important factor in | | | | In my next article I want to talk about Priority, |
| intelligence, therefore gathering that knowledge is | | | | and its importance in everything we do. |
| essential: Any AI system must have senses, it | | | | |