Artificial Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction
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- Create Date：2021-08-04 09:54:39
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Margaret A. Boden
- ISBN：0199602913
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Summary
The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes， schools and offices， in our cinemas， in art galleries and -- not least -- on the Internet。 The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists， psychologists， and linguists in helping to understand the processes of memory， learning， and language from a fresh angle。
As a concept， Artificial Intelligence has fueled and sharpened the philosophical debates concerning the nature of the mind， intelligence， and the uniqueness of human beings。 In this Very Short Introduction， Margaret A。 Boden reviews the philosophical and technological challenges raised by Artificial Intelligence， considering whether programs could ever be really intelligent， creative， or even conscious， and shows how the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence has helped us to appreciate how human and animal minds are possible。
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area。 These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly。 Our expert authors combine facts， analysis， perspective， new ideas， and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable。
As a concept， Artificial Intelligence has fueled and sharpened the philosophical debates concerning the nature of the mind， intelligence， and the uniqueness of human beings。 In this Very Short Introduction， Margaret A。 Boden reviews the philosophical and technological challenges raised by Artificial Intelligence， considering whether programs could ever be really intelligent， creative， or even conscious， and shows how the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence has helped us to appreciate how human and animal minds are possible。
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area。 These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly。 Our expert authors combine facts， analysis， perspective， new ideas， and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable。
Reviews
Rick Sam
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An Excellent Introduction to Artificial Intelligence。Here is the outline: 1。 What is Artificial Intelligence？2。 General intelligence as the Holy Grail Language， 3。 Creativity， emotion Artificial neural networks4。 Robots and artificial life5。 But is it intelligence， really？6。 The Singularity The Field of A。I is moving fast， researchers pouring volumes of research。 Researchers are from all backgrounds in the field of A。I， it's interdisciplinary -- Psychology， Philosophy， Computer Science， Mathema An Excellent Introduction to Artificial Intelligence。Here is the outline: 1。 What is Artificial Intelligence？2。 General intelligence as the Holy Grail Language， 3。 Creativity， emotion Artificial neural networks4。 Robots and artificial life5。 But is it intelligence， really？6。 The Singularity The Field of A。I is moving fast， researchers pouring volumes of research。 Researchers are from all backgrounds in the field of A。I， it's interdisciplinary -- Psychology， Philosophy， Computer Science， MathematicsIn SaaS World， I could see many parts of this field， actualized into wonderful products solving real-world problems。 The Goal for field in A。I is to move towards General Intelligence， which we are far， far away。 I would recommend this to anyone， who wants to know about A。I。Deus Vult， Gottfried 。。。more
Petra
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2。5*
Laila
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Had some interesting bits， but there were equally a lot of parts that didn't feel suitable for an introduction to the topic！ I just didn't understand the way some things were explained。 Had some interesting bits， but there were equally a lot of parts that didn't feel suitable for an introduction to the topic！ I just didn't understand the way some things were explained。 。。。more
James Stuart
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Very detailed historical references show that AI is an expansive field with deeper roots than just Deep Learning！ But there's also an excessive academicism in the ever-present skepticism over recent results and perspectives for near-term AGI。 So the book's predictions， from 2018， might not age so well。 Already in 2021， many of the current results in NLP and autonomous cars seem to put into question some of the author's reservations about the generality of current approaches。Extremely useful for Very detailed historical references show that AI is an expansive field with deeper roots than just Deep Learning！ But there's also an excessive academicism in the ever-present skepticism over recent results and perspectives for near-term AGI。 So the book's predictions， from 2018， might not age so well。 Already in 2021， many of the current results in NLP and autonomous cars seem to put into question some of the author's reservations about the generality of current approaches。Extremely useful for broadening your perspective on the history and the lesser-known areas of AI。 To be combined with more optimistic （albeit uncertain） perspectives from authors such as Kurzweil or Tegmark。 。。。more
Craig French
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Some good references and good for pointers for where to follow up themes。 But dreadful as an introduction - lost count of how many key ideas， concepts， and notions were unexplained。 No very clear narrative to the book either。 As a starter for AI look elsewhere。
Ada
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I love the Very Short Introduction book series。 Some are worse， some are better : but they often provide a concise overview of a complex subject and an in-depth reading list for those who want to learn more。 Boden's Artificial Intelligence is a particularly good example of A Very Short Introduction。 Margaret A。 Boden is a recognized expert in the field of artificial intelligence。 I've read a few things on the subject and her name keeps coming up again and again。 When approaching this book， I was I love the Very Short Introduction book series。 Some are worse， some are better : but they often provide a concise overview of a complex subject and an in-depth reading list for those who want to learn more。 Boden's Artificial Intelligence is a particularly good example of A Very Short Introduction。 Margaret A。 Boden is a recognized expert in the field of artificial intelligence。 I've read a few things on the subject and her name keeps coming up again and again。 When approaching this book， I was a little concerned that it would be too advanced for me。 I needn't have worried。 Boden writes lucidly and logically about a very complex and controversial subject matter。 Rather than writing a history of AI， Boden divides her book according to various research areas in the field， including language processing， artificial neural networks and artificial life。 A particularly interesting area that I had not read much about before is robotics。 Instead of necessarily aiming to imitate the human brain， many scientists are basing their robot ideas on insects。 This is because insects often act when responding reflexes rather than acting as a deliberation。 For example， female crickets recognise only one speed and frequency of cricket song - that of their own species of cricket。 Whenever they hear this cricket song， they are neurally wired to move in a certain direction。 A biological automaton， if you'd like。 I'm sure Descartes would love this。。。 Boden provides a remarkably balanced view on the problem of consciousness and underlines the controversial nature of the statements made so far。 She also gives some space to the view that real consciousness is impossible without metabolism - and therefore "conscious" AI would necessarily mean AI that is "alive" in some meaningful， possibly biological way。But what I really appreciated in Boden's view is the space she offered to AI ethics regarding applications of AI that many people choose not to question。 She talks， for example， about the robots which are created to behave as companions for the elderly。 What does it mean to live in a society that thinks it is okay to offer such robot companionship to the elderly rather than human care？ "Whether it is ethical to offer such quasi-companionship to emotionally needy people is questionable。 Certainly some human computer-interactive systems appear to provide pleasure， and even lasting contentment to people whose lives seem otherwise empty。 But is that enough？"That is not to say that robots can't do humans any good。 But it is clear that they must be use as an enhancement to normal human care and not as a simple substitute for it。 。。。more
Roddy
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Mainly for geeks but the beginning and the end are readable and informative。
Houssein
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Nice summary， but the too many acronyms makes it a bit hard to follow。
Clo Willaerts
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Handy if you’re looking for clear definitionsThis book is an ideal starting point if you’re writing a paper or article about AI， and need to quote clear definitions of terms like Machine Learning or Deep Learning。It is indeed very short and ends abruptly without making a clear point - besides maybe that General Artificial Intelligence is still distant。
Nick Davies
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Fascinating。 I've been aware of these 'A Very Short Introduction。。。' books for a few years， friends and family having found others in the series worthwhile and interesting - but I had not myself read one until now。 Artificial Intelligence is a subject about which I am curious but do not have a particularly full or good understanding， and this proved to be a very good introduction to， and stimulus of further desire to find out more about， the subject。My only criticism， which I acknowledge is an o Fascinating。 I've been aware of these 'A Very Short Introduction。。。' books for a few years， friends and family having found others in the series worthwhile and interesting - but I had not myself read one until now。 Artificial Intelligence is a subject about which I am curious but do not have a particularly full or good understanding， and this proved to be a very good introduction to， and stimulus of further desire to find out more about， the subject。My only criticism， which I acknowledge is an obvious consequence of the format， was that it was at times hard to follow。 Compressing a large and complex field into a short and readable format was always necessarily going to lead to a book I think I'll need to re-read a couple more times to ensure I absorb and understand it more fully。 。。。more
Martin
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I good overview of the history of AI， although I was expecting the book to be more of an explanation of it。Some of the concepts like phenomenal consciousness， rational and relevant thinking， and also social and emotional intelligence would be interesting to follow up on in the "Further reading" section。 I good overview of the history of AI， although I was expecting the book to be more of an explanation of it。Some of the concepts like phenomenal consciousness， rational and relevant thinking， and also social and emotional intelligence would be interesting to follow up on in the "Further reading" section。 。。。more
Enya
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not sure how much of an actual "introduction" this really was。 I don't think it was written in a particularly approachable way， I much preferred Melanie Mitchell's Guide to Artificial Intelligence not sure how much of an actual "introduction" this really was。 I don't think it was written in a particularly approachable way， I much preferred Melanie Mitchell's Guide to Artificial Intelligence 。。。more
Daniel
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This book may be straining the definition of "Introduction，" as in a good first book to read on a subject。 It covers an extraordinarily broad and complex technical field， with nearly every page and often paragraph mentioning yet another concept， software system， or thinker about which entire books could be （and often have been） written。 Certainly Wikipedia articles have been written for most of them， and I spent about as much time looking them up as reading about them in the book。 In most cases This book may be straining the definition of "Introduction，" as in a good first book to read on a subject。 It covers an extraordinarily broad and complex technical field， with nearly every page and often paragraph mentioning yet another concept， software system， or thinker about which entire books could be （and often have been） written。 Certainly Wikipedia articles have been written for most of them， and I spent about as much time looking them up as reading about them in the book。 In most cases Wikipedia goes into more depth and it's usually needed。 The book mostly made sense to me， but I've been reading about artificial intelligence occasionally since the 1980s。The Very Short Introductions series divides other complex topics into subtopics （see for example the VSIs on astronomy， which separately cover stars， planets， galaxies， moons， astrophysics， cosmology， telescopes， and history）。 AI seems more than complex enough to justify a similar division。 Then the reader might actually get introduced to a particular area of AI （symbolic， connectionist， deep learning， the Singularity， etc。） as in grasping how it works。AI is a branch of computer programming， and it's hard to "understand" computer programming without actually programming computers （try to imagine learning mathematics without working math problems）。 Thus there are probably limits to how much of AI can be conveyed merely by reading books。 Ideally， an introduction to the field （short or otherwise） should include actual programs one can run and study。 But the author makes a brave attempt to convey the wonders of AI through prose only， and one hopes the interested reader will follow up with the Further Reading recommendations。 Or at least look up all book topics on Wikipedia。 。。。more
Cem Yüksel
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Quite condensed introduction to AI from early days to the present。 This content creates a wave of theories by different people which are not explained well due to short introduction giving a taste of “not completed”。 The chapter on consciousness is a good one for different discussions on AI’s future and discussion between the AI’s limits 。
Fausto Lammoglia
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Un’ottima panoramica dello stato dell’arte dell’IA。 Uno studio chiaro， efficace e semplice。 Non tanto nei contenuti quanto nella fruizione: l’autore non lascia nulla per scontato， illustrando brevemente ogni termine utilizzato rendendo il tutto davvero un prodotto perfetto。
Kyle
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It seems like the most prescient part of understanding the potential of artificial general intelligence is knowing the many， many acronyms and abbreviations。 Perhaps if the programmers and researchers spent a little less time lining up letters to christen each virtual machine， we'd probably have digital match for the human mind。 Singularity-skeptics like Boden may not like this assumption， and she seems a bit too wrapped up in disproving in the last chapter what had been proposed in the precedin It seems like the most prescient part of understanding the potential of artificial general intelligence is knowing the many， many acronyms and abbreviations。 Perhaps if the programmers and researchers spent a little less time lining up letters to christen each virtual machine， we'd probably have digital match for the human mind。 Singularity-skeptics like Boden may not like this assumption， and she seems a bit too wrapped up in disproving in the last chapter what had been proposed in the preceding six， but nevertheless knows her way around this history of acronyms to say something meaningful about human-computer relations。 Unless that's exactly what the Matrix wants people to believe。 。。。more
David
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A challenging read for the novice in AI。 The author is deeply knowledgeable about this and related subjects， but the book suffers from overly dense and detailed prose that is not approachable by many。 A careful read will illuminate all of the ideas in this comprehensive work and will be useful to many who make it through to the end， but it will likely be slow going。
Laurel
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Much of this went over my head -- interesting and deep delve。
Eric Carzon
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You ever read a book you only understood about 1/3 of？ This is that book。 But the 1/3 or so I feel I understood was very illuminating。 In a very compact format， the author describes the history of Artificial Intelligence （Ai）， which includes the interesting evolution of some major rifts and faultlines between some of the major players that have significance today。 Many concepts are explored， and I got a further appreciation of Alan Turing， who had a larger influence on Ai thinking that I realize You ever read a book you only understood about 1/3 of？ This is that book。 But the 1/3 or so I feel I understood was very illuminating。 In a very compact format， the author describes the history of Artificial Intelligence （Ai）， which includes the interesting evolution of some major rifts and faultlines between some of the major players that have significance today。 Many concepts are explored， and I got a further appreciation of Alan Turing， who had a larger influence on Ai thinking that I realized。 I highly recommend this book。 。。。more
Wing
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