Homework Assignment #1 1. (8 points) Hold two brief (less than five minute) conversations. One should be with an online chatbot. The other should be with someone else in the class you have not yet met. You can talk online, through a series of email messages, or in person. Some of the chatbots you can talk to are: * ALICE (www.alicebot.org) * Splotchy (www.algebra.com/cgi-bin/chat.mpl) * Oliver (www.oliverbot.com) * Lauren (lauren.vhost.pandorabots.com/pandora/ talk?botid=f6d4afd83e34564d) * Any other that you find particularly convincing. For this assignment, turn in written versions of both conversations. Make a note of which person and which chatbot you spoke with, but separate the identities from the recorded conversations themselves. Before turning in recordings remove any information from the written conversations that would reveal who you are or who you are talking to. We will go through the conversations in class to see if we can guess whether you are talking to a person or a chatbot. 2. (10 points) Two additional dimensions for characterizing AI systems and methods are theoretical vs. practical (sometimes referred to as "neat" vs. "scruffy") and "strong AI" (consciousness as an objective) vs. "weak AI" (makes no claims about whether systems are self aware). Characterize the following definitions according to these four dimensions. Some definitions may be neutral with respect to a particular dimension, or fall in the middle of a continuum. Artificial intelligence is: - a collection of algorithms that are computationally tractable, adequate approximations of intractably specified problems [Patridge, 1991] - the enterprise of constructing a physical symbol system that can reliably pass the Turing Test [Ginsberg, 1993] - the exciting new effort to make computers think...machines with minds, in the full and literal sense [Haugeland, 1985] - the field of computer science that studies how machines can be made to act intelligently [Jackson, 1986] - The automation of activities that we associate with human thinking, activities such as decision making, problem solving, learning... [Bellman, 1978] - a field of study that encompasses computational techniques for performing tasks that apparently require intelligence when performed by humans [Tanimoto, 1990] - a very general investigation of the nature of intelligence and the principles and mechanisms required for understanding or replicating it [Sharples et al., 1989] - getting computers to do things that seem to be intelligence [Rowe, 1988] - The study of computations that make it possible to perceive, reason and act [Winston, 1991] 3. (12 points) Choose two of the following agents, and for each, develop a PEAS description of the task environment and characterize the environment along the four dimensions given in lecture. In addition, specify the environment properties that apply to the task environment (provide an explanation of your choice if multiple descriptions may apply). a) Google SearchBot b) PDA/Internet Travel Assistant c) Search and rescue robot d) Algebra tutor e) Robot soccer player