Subject: Artificial intelligence (CSC 309)
An intelligent agent is a core concept in Artificial Intelligence (AI). It refers to any entity that can perceive its environment, reason about it, and act intelligently to achieve specific goals. Intelligent agents are designed to operate autonomously and make decisions that improve their performance over time.
In real life, intelligent agents exist in many forms such as chatbots, robots, recommendation systems, autonomous vehicles, and smart assistants.
Definition of an Intelligent Agent An intelligent agent is an autonomous system that: • Perceives its environment through sensors • Acts upon that environment through actuators • Uses reasoning or learning to maximize its performance measure An agent is anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon that environment through actuators.
Components of an Intelligent Agent
Every intelligent agent has the following basic components:
1. Sensors
Devices or mechanisms used to perceive the environment. Examples: • Cameras, microphones (robots) • Keyboard input, mouse clicks (software agents) • GPS, speed sensors (autonomous vehicles)
2. Actuators
Mechanisms used to act on the environment. Examples: • Wheels, arms, speakers (robots) • Display messages, send emails (software agents)
3. Agent Program
The decision-making logic that maps perceptions to actions. The agent program is the brain of the intelligent agent. It is the set of rules, algorithms, or code that decides what action the agent should take based on what it perceives from the environment.
Percept + Agent Program(Decision Logic) = Action
What the Agent Program Does - Receives input from sensors (perceptions) - Analyzes the information - Chooses the best possible action - Sends commands to actuators
Example 1: Human Agent - Perception: Informed of AI test next week momday - Agent Program (brain): “AI test next monday, make note, study before next monday” - Action: (walk with legs to the class early) (write the test: using hand) Your brain acts as the agent program.
Example 2: Chatbot - Perception: User types “What is AI?” - Agent Program: Understand the question, Search knowledge base and Generate response - Action: Display an answer on the screen
4. Environment
Everything outside the agent that it interacts with. - The agent can sense - The agent can affect with its actions
What the Environment Includes - Objects - People - Data - Conditions - Other agents
Example 1: Human Agent Agent = A student Environment = [Classroom, Books, Teachers, Other students, Noise, light, temperature]
Example 2: Online Recommendation System Agent = YouTube/Netflix recommender Environment = [User behavior, Videos watchedx, Ratings, Internet data]
Relationship Between Agent Program and Environment
Environment → Sensors → Agent Program → Actuators → Environment