What is AI?
AI means machines that behave intelligently — not necessarily by thinking like humans.
People often call a program “AI” just because it beats humans at something hard. That is not enough. A computer can store millions of digits of π, but memorizing digits is not the same as intelligence.
In this course, AI is about systems that can perceive, learn, and act toward goals — sometimes in ways quite different from human brains.
A machine (or program) that learns and applies knowledge or skills to achieve goals in a useful way — often for a specific task under limited conditions.
A calculator multiplies faster than you. A chess engine chooses moves by searching and evaluating positions. Both outperform humans at something, but only the second is usually called AI: it adapts strategy to new board states, not just one fixed arithmetic rule.
If a question asks “is outperforming humans enough for AI?”, answer no — give a counterexample like brute-force memorization or raw calculation speed.
Key takeaways
- AI ≠ merely beating humans at a hard task.
- Focus on goals, learning, and interaction with an environment.
- AI need not copy human cognition.