Definition
A parrot can repeat a hundred words. Is the parrot intelligent?
Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, understand and use language, reason about problems, perceive the world through the senses, and use all of this to reach goals in new situations.
In simple words
Intelligence is not one single skill. It is a toolbox. When you find your way in a new market, you look around (perceive), remember similar places (learn), work out which lane to take (reason), and ask someone for directions (language). The parrot can copy sounds, but it doesn't understand them or use them to solve a new problem, so copying alone isn't intelligence.
Why it matters
Artificial intelligence means building these abilities into machines. Before we can ask whether a machine is intelligent, we need to know which abilities we are looking for. Every AI system you will meet in this course copies one or more of them.
How it works
Five abilities that make up intelligence
| Ability | What it means | Everyday example |
|---|---|---|
| Learning | Getting better from experience | Riding a cycle without falling after a week of practice |
| Reasoning | Working out an answer from what you know | If it is cloudy and windy, carry an umbrella |
| Language | Understanding and producing words | Following a recipe someone explains |
| Perception | Making sense of what the senses take in | Recognising a friend's voice on the phone |
| Problem solving | Finding a way to reach a goal | Fitting all your books into one bag |
People use all five together, all the time. Most machines today have only one or two of them, and only for one kind of task.
Try it yourself
Watch intelligence at work
You hear a friend call your name in a crowded market. Follow what your brain does in that one moment.
Which ability does each task need most?
Pick the main ability for each everyday task.
Getting faster at typing after a month
Working out who broke the vase from the clues
Spotting your bag on a crowded luggage belt
Understanding a joke your friend tells
Hearing a car horn and stepping back
Writing a short message to wish a friend
Common mistakes
- Thinking that memory alone is intelligence. Remembering facts is useful, but intelligence is using them in new situations.
- Thinking intelligence is one number. People can be strong at language and weaker at puzzles, or the other way round.
- Thinking only humans are intelligent. Crows use tools and dolphins solve problems.
Check yourself
Summary
- Intelligence is a set of abilities: learning, reasoning, language, perception and problem solving.
- It shows most clearly when someone handles a situation they have never met before.
- AI is the attempt to build these abilities into machines.
Finished reading?
Sources: Elements of AI (University of Helsinki) · Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach