ABSTRACT
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a multidisciplinary subject, typically studied as a research area within computer science. AI study aims at achieving a good understanding of the nature of intelligence and building intelligent agents which are computational systems demonstrating intelligent behavior. AI has been developed over more than 50 years. The topics studied in AI are quite broad, ranging from knowledge representation and reasoning, knowledge-based systems, machine learning and data mining, and natural language processing, to search, image processing, robotics, and intelligent information systems. Numerous successful AI systems have been deployed in real-life applications in engineering, finance, science, health care, education, and service sectors. AI research has also significantly impacted the subject area of library and information science (LIS), helping to develop smart web search engines, personalized news filters, and knowledge-sharing and indexing systems. This entry briefly outlines the main topics studied in AI, samples some typical successful AI applications, and discusses the cross-fertilization between AI and LIS.
