In 2016, I spent some time on the emergence of new AI issues with Microsoft’s Dave Heiner, who at the time was working with Eric Horvitz, who had long led much of our basic research in the field. When I pressed Dave, he provided me with what I still regard as one helpful way to think about AI: “AI is a computer system that can learn from experience by discerning patterns in data fed to it and thereby make decisions.” Eric uses a somewhat broader definition, suggesting that “AI is the study of computational mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior.” While this often involves data,
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