原文
Language Artificial Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction Chapter 1 What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) seeks to make computers do the sorts of things that minds can do. Some of these (e.g. reasoning) are normally described as ‘intelligent’. Others (e.g. vision) aren’t. But all involve psychological skills—such as perception, association, prediction, planning, motor control—that enable humans and animals to attain their goals. Intelligence isn’t a single dimension, but a richly structured space of diverse information-processing capacities. Accordingly, AI uses many different techniques, addressing many different tasks. And it’s everywhere.
AI’s practical applications are found in the home, the car (and the driverless car), the office, the bank, the hospital, the sky … and the Internet, including the Internet of Things (which connects the ever-multiplying physical sensors in our gadgets, clothes, and environments). Some lie outside our planet: robots sent to the Moon and Mars, or satellites orbiting in space. Hollywood animations, video and computer games, sat-nav systems, and Google’s search engine are all based on AI techniques. So are the systems used by financiers to predict movements on the stock market, and by national governments to help guide policy decisions in health and transport. So are the apps on mobile phones. Add avatars in virtual reality, and the toe-in-the-water models of emotion developed for ‘companion’ robots. Even art galleries use AI—on their websites, and also in exhibitions of computer art. Less happily, military drones roam today’s battlefields—but, thankfully, robot minesweepers do so too.
AI has two main aims. One is technological: using computers to get useful things done (sometimes by employing methods very unlike those used by minds). The other is scientific: using AI concepts and models to help answer questions about human beings and other living things. Most AI workers focus on only one of these, but some consider both. Besides providing countless technological gizmos, AI has deeply influenced the life sciences. In particular, AI has enabled psychologists and neuroscientists to develop powerful theories of the mind–brain. These include models of how the physical brain works, and—a different, but equally important, question—just what it is that the brain is doing: what computational (psychological) questions it is answering, and what sorts of information processing enable it to do that. Many unanswered questions remain, for AI itself has taught us that our minds are very much richer than psychologists had previously imagined.
参考译文
人工智能简介
第一章
人工智能的定义
人工智能（AI）旨在让计算机完成大脑能够执行的任务。通常情况下，诸如逻辑推理这样的任务被归为“智能”，而视觉处理等则不属于“智能”范畴。但这 些 任 务 都 涉 及 感知、联想、预测、计划、运动控制等认知能力，能够帮助人类和动物实现既定目标。智能并非单一维度，而是一个结构丰富、信息处理能力多样的空间。因此，人工智能运用诸多技术，处理各种任务，应用范围广泛。
从房屋、汽车，（尤其是无人驾驶汽车）、办公室、银行，到医院、天空、互联网、物联网，即连接设备、衣物和环境中与日俱增的物理传感器，人工智能的应用无处不在。有些应用甚至位于地球之外，例如探月探火机器人、人造卫星。好莱坞动画、影片、电游、卫星导航系统、谷歌搜索引擎都基于人工智能技术。金融家用来预测股市走势的系统和政府用来制定卫生和交通政策的系统都依赖于人工智能技术。同样，手机应用程序也利用人工智能技术。虚拟现实中的虚拟角色，伴侣型机器人的情感模型，甚至艺术画廊的网站和计算机艺术展览中，都离不开人工智能的加持。不过，令人遗憾的是，军用无人机在战场上翱翔，但庆幸的是，机器人扫雷舰也在执行任务。
人工智能有两个主要目标。一方面是技术领域的应用：通过计算机完成有益任务，有时采用的方法与大脑思维方法截然不同。另一方面则是科学领域的应用：利用人工智能概念和模型帮助解答关于人类和其他生物的问题。大多数人工智能学者只关注其中之一，但也有人同时考虑这两个目标。人工智能不仅提供了无数技术工具，还对生命科学产生了深远影响。值得注意的是，在人工智能的帮助下，心理学家和神经科学家得以提出关于大脑工作机制的重大理论。这些重大理论包括大脑工作模型、工作内容，即大脑在解决什么样的计算（心理）问题，实现这些基于何种信息处理。尽管人工智能已向我们表明，人类大脑远比心理学家所设想的复杂，但仍有许多问题悬而未决。