Data Mining and Machine Learning in Building Energy Analysis

3Artificial Intelligence Models

3.1. Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science with the aim of making machines capable of reasoning and perception. This overall objective is pursued through both practical and theoretical routes. In practice, the aim is to make machines capable of performing tasks which require intelligence as handled by a human. In theory, people want to pursue a scientific understanding of the computational principles underlying intelligent behavior, as manifested in humans and other animals. Both routes need to propose and understand operational principles of thought and action in computational terms. These principles may form the foundations of computer implementations of thought and action and, if suitably grounded in experimental method, may in some ways contribute to explanations of human thought and behavior.

AI research has been applied in broad ways. For instance, computer programs play chess at an expert level, assess insurance and credit risks, automatically identify objects from images, and search the contents of the Internet. From the scientific perspective, however, the aim of understanding intelligence from a computational point of view remains elusive. As an example, current programs for automatic reasoning can prove useful theorems concerning the correctness of large-scale digital circuitry, but exhibit little or no common sense. Current language-processing programs can translate simple sentences into database ...