Invention and Artificial Intelligence
(invited lecture for ALT and DS 2005)

Author: Gary L. Bradshaw

Affiliation: Department of Psychology,
Mississippi State University, Starkville, U.S.A.

Source: Discovery Science, 8th International Conference, DS 2005, Singapore, October 2005, Proceedings, (Achim Hoffmann, Hiroshi Motada, Tobias Scheffer, Eds.), Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 3735, pp. 1 - 13, Springer 2005.

Abstract. Invention, like scientific discovery, sometimes occurs through a heuristic search process where an inventor seeks a successful invention by searching through a space of inventions. For complex inventions, such as the airplane or model rockets, the process of invention can be expedited by an appropriate strategy of invention. Two case studies will be used to illustrate these general principles: the invention of the airplane (1799-1909) and the invention of a model rocket by a group of high school students in rural West Virginia in the late 1950's. Especially during the invention of the airplane, inventors were forced to make scientific discoveries to complete the invention. Then we consider the enterprise of artificial intelligence and argue that general principles of invention may be applied to expedite the development of AI systems.


©Copyright 2005 Springer