News Digest Nov,8

Artificial Intelligence Reaching New Heights

Daily Bruin (11/05/08) Terzyan, Seda

Exponential advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to ultimately lead to technology that is able to mimic a human.  "We're probably not too far from a time when an intelligent agent program could assist with our electronic communication," says Phillip Duncan, senior technology strategist at the University of California, Los Angeles' (UCLA's) Institute for Technology Advancement.  Improved AI technology could enable someone to simultaneously speak with multiple people through electronic communication networks, with computer agents responding for people in certain situations, giving users more time to handle important matters.  UCLA professor Judea Pearl says we already have advanced AI that surrounds us in subtle ways.  For example, Pearl says the simple act of Web searching enables the computer to analyze a user's interests and decide what sorts of advertisements to show.  Computers also are already able to reason, he says, and eventually search engines will be able to understand full questions and search for specific articles instead of just matching keywords.  The ability to analyze massive amounts of data, and have uninterrupted access to almost unlimited amounts of information, will give computers the ability to process information at speeds far beyond the abilities of the human brain.  UCLA professor Richard Korf says such advancements in technology may not be immediately recognizable, but AI agents are slowly advancing and becoming more integrated in the social fabric of society.

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2008/nov/05/artificial-intelligence-reaching-new-heights/