Artificial intelligence. (book reviews) Russ Lockwood.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most hyped topics in computerdom. Contrary to the wishful thinking of marketing people and venture capitalists, true AI machines are far down the road. Fortunately, F. David Peat avoids the all-too-common trap of peddling superficial visions of the future and instead concentrates on providing a history of AI research.

Most of the book examines the development of various AI tools and techniques. Yet Peat delves beneath a cursory recounting of milestones and accomplishments to describe the assumptions and methods used by researchers. He traces the efforts to decipher human patterns and ambiguities and translate them into computer logic. Speech recognition and synthesis, expert systems, robotic vision, supercomputers, and a virtual alphabet soup of acronym-named programs are covered.

Peat weaves an interesting tale of the exploits of AI researchers in their quest for a "thinking' machine. Those interested in reading a solid introduction to AI can't go wrong with Artificial Intelligence.

Review Grade: A