A short introduction to artificial intelligence: Methods, success stories, and current limitations

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of the most important methods in artificial intelligence (AI). The methods of symbolic AI are rooted in logic, and finding possible solutions by search is a central aspect. The main challenge is the combinatorial explosion in search, but the focus on the satisfiability problem of propositional logic (SAT) since the 1990s and the accompanying algorithmic improvements have made it possible to solve problems on the scale needed in industrial applications. In machine learning (ML), self-learning algorithms extract information from data and represent the solutions in convenient forms. ML broadly consists of supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning. Successes in the 2010s and early 2020s such as solving Go, chess, and many computer games as well as large language models such as ChatGPT are due to huge computational resources and algorithmic advances in ML. Finally, we reflect on current developments and draw conclusions.