Learning XNA 4.0

Chapter 7. Basic Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, huh? It probably sounds a little bit scary and pretty cool at the same time. We touched on the concept of artificial intelligence in previous chapters, but now let’s take a look at what artificial intelligence really is.

Since the beginning of the computing age, researchers have pondered and debated ways to make machines act more like humans and/or give them some form of artificial intelligence. The biggest problem with the entire line of artificial intelligence science is that there really is no way to define intelligence. What makes somebody or something intelligent? That’s an excellent question, and perhaps one that we will never be able to answer fully. Numerous other questions crop up as well. How do you define typical human behavior? What forms of human behavior constitute intelligence? What forms of human behavior are worthy of replication in machines?

You could argue that the application you have written is “intelligent” because the sprites animate on their own (that is, the user doesn’t have to tell them to continually animate). So, they must be intelligent, right? Others would argue that they are not intelligent, though, because they don’t “do” anything; they just sit there and spin. Even in this example, where it’s clear that the sprites aren’t really intelligent, you can start to see how this area of research is inherently ambiguous.

In this line of science, it’s a blessing and a curse that the idea of creating ...