Artificial Intelligence: A Beginner's Guide

Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)

by Blay Whitby

Tomorrow begins right here as we embark on an enthralling and jargon-free journey into the world of computers and the inner recesses of the human mind. Readers encounter everything from the nanotechnology used to make insect-like robots, to computers that perform surgery, in addition to discovering the biggest controversies to dog the field of AI. Blay Whitby is a Lecturer on Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sussex UK. He is the author of two books and numerous papers.

Genres: Computer Science, Nonfiction, Science, Audiobook, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, Technology

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Howard Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

good introduction to begin understanding AI although I would think that it is slightly outdated

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

یکی از بهترین کتابهایی که میشه برای آشنایی مقدماتی با هوش مصنوعی خوند. برای خوندنش تقریبا نیاز به هیچ دانش تخصصی‌ای در این زمینه نیست.
نویسنده خیلی شسته رفته و تمیز مفاهیم اصلی، چالش‌ها و بعضا چشم‌اندازهای این حوزه رو توضیح میده و یه دید کلی تو این زمینه به آدم میده.

[Leo Ravine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reads like a map of the meanings of and approaches to AI. As someone with a pretty rookie, enthusiast-only contact with the field, "AI" to me was sometimes simple enemies on video games, sometimes digital agents or assistants, sometimes another name for search algorythms and sometimes the big future singularity that could either save us all or go Skynet on us. There's the famous divide between "weak" and "strong" AI, or AI vs. the so-called "ASI", but, as this book shows, that's not actually that helpful. Artificial Intelligence is a very real part of our world, and this book - which introduces different fields of study that sprung from or gained a lot from AI research - tries to explain it all, clearing up the distinctions between the multiple definitions of intelligence, conscience, "robot" and more, surprisingly keeping itself short in the process. Oh, but it also recommends additional reading in every one of the subjects it mentions. The author doesn't shy away from expressing his enthusiasm for the field, as much as his disappointment with the academic infighting and lack of integration, but makes an effort to keep things facual, instead of speculative, until near the very end. I loved it. It IS from 2003, though, so I'm sure a lot more already happened, but now I feel I know what to look for.

[Manan Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. Clear language, excellent metaphors.
Gives a good overview of the filed of AI (as it was when the author wrote it).

[Jessada Karnjana · Rating 4 out of 5]

เคยมีหมาตัวที่ขึ้นปกด้วยนะ ซื้อมาจาก Wal*Mart แต่สุดท้ายก็ถูกแย่งชิงไป Blay Whitby เขียนหนังสือแนะนำ AI สำหรับคนที่อยากรู้ว่า AI คืออะไร โดยเฉพาะคนนอกสาขา เพื่อความเข้าใจที่ถูกต้องและออกจะเป็นความเข้าใจที่ผสมผสานทั้งสถานะงานวิจัยปัจจุบันและปรัชญาว่า AI ทำอะไรได้ และทำอะไรไม่ได้ เป็นไปได้จริงหรือว่าเราสามารถสร้างให้ machine คิด และคำว่า "คิด" ของ machine นั้น เหมือนหรือแตกต่างจากคำว่า "คิด" ของคนเราอย่างไร นอกจากนี้คำว่า "คิด" ของ machine นั้น มัน "คิด" จริง ๆ หรือเพียงกระทำตามคำสั่งอย่างสิ้นคิด เพื่อให้ได้ผลลัพธ์ประหนึ่งเสมือนว่ามันคิด ข้อถกเถียง ข้อโต้แย้งเหล่านี้แหละครับที่ผู้เขียนนำมาพูดถึงในหนังสือ

[Suzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great beginners guide to AI. It's quite objective despite the fact the author seems to be generally very enthusiastic about the technological advances of AI.

Some thing(s) I liked:
✅Not full of jargon, lots of explanations that can be understood by most English speaking (reading) people.
✅Brilliantly interesting content.
✅The acknowledgement that basically the only reason AI is advancing is because of porn. It's not something I've thought about, but now it's been mentioned, of course that's what it's all about!!

Some thing(s), not so much:
⭕Somehow, already some of the information is out of date.

[Ronald McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the key issues around artificial intelligence. Highly readable and a terrific starting point. After reading this, I feel that I can start to learn about this area. Highly recommended!

[Belinda]

I don't give star ratings to non fiction books. But this was a really good introduction to artificial intelligence. It unfortunately was really outdated by the time I read it. But I really enjoyed it anyway.

[Alex S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good as an introduction into historical (not necessarily outdated) problems, approaches, and jargon of AI.

[Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

یکی از بهترین کتاب ها در زمینه ی هوش مصنوعی

[Catcher-in-the-mist · Rating 5 out of 5]

หมาตัวนี้ผมก็เคยมีนะครับ ซื้อจาก Wal*Mart มากระดิกหูส่ายหน้าเล่นไฟแวบ ๆ น่ารัก ๆ อยู่พักหนึ่งก็ถูกตบไป Blay Whitby เขียนหนังสือแนะนำ AI สำหรับคนที่อยากรู้ว่า AI คืออะไร โดยเฉพาะคนนอก field เพื่อความเข้าใจที่ถูกต้องและออกจะเป็นความเข้าใจที่ผสมผสานทั้งสถานะงานวิจัยปัจจุบันและปรัชญาว่า AI ทำอะไรได้ และทำอะไรไม่ได้ เป็นไปได้จริงหรือว่าเราสามารถสร้างให้ machine คิด และคำว่า "คิด" ของ machine นั้น เหมือนหรือแตกต่างจากคำว่า "คิด" ของคนเราอย่างไร นอกจากนี้คำว่า "คิด" ของ machine นั้น มัน "คิด" จริง ๆ หรือเพียงกระทำตามคำสั่ง "อย่างสิ้นคิด" เพื่อให้ได้ผลลัพธ์ประหนึ่งเสมือนว่ามันคิด ข้อถกเถียง ข้อโต้แย้งเหล่านี้แหละครับที่ผู้เขียนนำมาพูดถึงในหนังสือ ผมเคยติววิชา AI ให้น้องที่เรียนอยู่ SIIT เขาใช้ตำราของ Russell กับ Norvig (AI A Modern Approach) ซึ่งเป็นตำราเรียนที่ดี และเหมือนตำราเรียนทั่วไปคือพูดถึงปรัชญาและความคิดที่อยู่ใน AI ไม่มากนัก มักจะพูดในบทแรกนิดหน่อย สำหรับนักเรียนมันคงจะดีไม่้น้อยถ้าได้อ่าน Whitby ก่อนครับ และสำหรับคนทั่วไปที่ไม่คิดจะเรียน มันดีมากในการพูดถึงพื้นฐานเพื่อช่วยให้เราเห็นภาพว่าเราเข้าใจ (หรือไม่เข้าใจ) ว่า "ปัญญา" (Intelligence) คืออะไร

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting discussion not of AI theory, but of recent applications of AI software. NASA used constraint-based reasoning algorithms to schedule 10,000 engineering operations needed to ready the space shuttle for launch, saving almost a year of human work per launch. The most distant man-made object, the Voyager I spacecraft, is running the DEVISER AI scheduling program.

The book also reviews expert systems, neural nets, and genetic algorithms. AI tries to use the "007 principle", where programs know only what they need to know. The biggest problem facing modern AI is known as the Frame problem--figuring out what has changed in an image full of millions of pixels representing a scene from which humans make many decisions every day.

The Turing machine and Chinese Room scenario are discussed in the essay on how to define intelligence, whether artificial or not. The essay on Cognitive Science has some interesting revelations about the similarities and differences between the human brain and the activities of software running on super-computers.

[Booklist54321 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good summary of artificial intelligence topics. This book contains information detailing the inception of the field, and how each branch has developed, forked, and crossed-disciplines. Ideas such as problem solving machines, systems that obtain and store knowledge, simulated logic and decision making, robotic navigation and world domination, process evolution, and visual object identification are covered. The source of the ideas are also explained, as most are functions found in nature and life. The boundaries of artificial intelligence at consciousness are also described. Yet even more ideas from art and philosophy are considered with the science of simulating intellect with machines. In summary, I found this book a great description of all the ways humans have sought to utilize humanities best features when inventing and creating technology.

[Iang95ify . · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent overview of AI for a beginner. Author notes the complexity of building an object with intelligence and shows that AI is not just about coding, but also psychology and biology. This is particularly true when we try to emulate biological systems, even modelling the intelligence of an insect is complex. Author explains that we should not try to recreate human intelligence and AI may take the form of an intelligence that is different from our preconceptions. Author is optimistic that AI will be a partner to make our lives better and not a master where humans will be enslaved.

[Thomas Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand that this book is over 10 years old now, but its a great way of getting an introduction to AI. I understand some of the breakthroughs in AI from reading the tech news (despite not understanding the subject itself at the time), & some of the unachievable references in this book have been surpassed, but to give you a general top level understanding of AI, this is well worth a read & I would say worthy of an update to remove the minor out of date references.

Want to understand AI, you'd do far worse than starting here.

[Any Length · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book to introduce the novice to the topic of artificial inteligence. Written in a way that even the beginner can understand what is being said and is given the different ways of looking at artificial inteligence. Good book even though the topic is complex and it is in audio format. Very well read by the narrator who is able to read anything at all and make it sound fascinating and interesting.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

What it says on the tin - a decent, basic introduction to the subject & the state of play in the science at the point the book was published. There's some potentially intriguing, if predictable, ideas about where the technology might lead. Sometimes, the authorial presence is a little overbearing - are readers really interested in his opinions?

[Chris James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really solid and interesting introduction to the field of AI. Balanced and temperate, it still spoke of the benefits and disadvantages of each style of research to give a good taste of the things on offer while being honest with how limited it could be in the space provided.

[Mohamad Ismail · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this short book, but I appreciated doing so. There are great references and topics, and the author really does a great job discussing large complicated ideas simply and concisely...definitely a great read to delve into artificial intelligence.

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice well-written overview of the subject, with some further reading lists and a decent bibliography. As a beginner's guide it does what it's meant to.