Technology

Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science and engineering that aims in creating intelligent agents, particularly intelligent computer programs. It focuses itself to the task of using computer to comprehend human intelligence.  Stuart and Norvig (2009) explain that Efficient AI systems require knowledge of the problem domain which is subdivided into three categories corresponding to the global database, the rules, and the control subdivision of production system. (p. 125)

Different types of AI systems used include
Expert system
Expert systems are sets of programs that manipulate encoded knowledge to solve problem in a specialized domain that normally require human expertise. Usually expert systems provide solution to problem in real life and usually build for a specific application domain.  E.g. Mycin expert system is used to diagnose bacterial infection in blood and suggested treatments. The limitation facing expert systems is that its hard to represent all kinds of knowledge and knowledge is specific and cannot solve general problem.

Fuzzy Logic
This is an approach to the formal treatment of uncertainty through natural language using linguistic variables that may have a truth value with ranges. Fuzzy logic is widely used in game playing where knowledge about the problem space, their respective movements and effects of movements, initial states and final states of the solution of the process.

Neural Network
 This is the interconnection of artificial neurons that uses a mathematical or computation model for information processing based on a connectionist approach to computing. Neural networks can be used to extract patterns and detect trends that are complex.

Exhaustive search
AI systems are often used in systematically examining a number of possibilities by using either depth search which searches the nodes in every level before proceeding to the next level or breath search that explores the search from the top to bottom. Exhaustive search is used in chase game moves or inferencing.

Applications of artificial intelligence include speech recognition, computer vision, game playing, pattern recognition, heuristic classification and understanding natural language.