AI for Retail

CHAPTER 5What Is AI?

“A creature void of form”

Bob Dylan

In this section of the book, I will give you the core knowledge you need to understand AI. Before we jump into AI theory, we start off with a discussion on what AI is, then compute power, which is as important as the AI itself, and then go into the history of AI and optimization. These chapters will give you the necessary prerequisites to learn AI. Then you will be ready to go deep into AI theory. Let's dive in.

Since John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky coined the term in 1956 at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence (DSRPAI), many over the past 66 years have tried to give airtight definitions of what is and what is not considered AI.

Short answer: When forced to give an answer, I typically say: “AI is any non‐trivial computer program that solves a complex problem.” This is too loose of a definition in my opinion, but I can think of a better definition that would clearly classify things I deem AI and things I do not. Let me defend this definition a bit more.

Long answer: To answer what is artificial intelligence you must first define intelligence.

Let's answer this question from a few different perspectives.

Intelligence

1. Webster: First perspective, Webster's definition of intelligence is: The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.

   So with this definition, is a worm intelligent? Is my dog? Is Steve‐o from Jackass? Is Einstein? Which has this magical “ability,” and which do not? I ...