Bilkent ACM SIGART (Special Interest Group on Aritifical Intelligence)

talk and discussion...

There is No Future for AI
(or is there?)

Ali Kalufya   


In the 1970's, AI research produced many computer programs which emulated human reasoning and behaviour. These, early successes appeared to indicate that it was merely a matter of time before it would be possible to construct really intelligent machines. Eventually, it was suggested, a machine programmed with sufficient knowledge and the appropriate heuristics, would quite literally be a mind. This position became known as Strong AI, in contrast to the relatively uncontroversial Weak AI poisition, which simply aimed at understanding human cognition or producing better computer programs without laying any claim to their metaphysical status.

The optimism of many AI researchers who believed in Strong AI was shattered by philosopher John Searle, whose now notorious "Chinese Room" thought experiment, has been the center of arguments both for and against the position over the last 15 years. In this talk I will present Searle's ideas and discuss their validity.

Tuesday 25th November, 1997
at 16:40 Room: EA502 (Eng. Building)

Everyone Welcome