| This dissertation presents a critical survey of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The purpose of the dissertation is to study AI approaches and systems in terms of their goals, claims, and accomplishments. It seeks to find explanations for matches and mismatches among these by examining, in great detail, the technical and conceptual aspects of the systems under study. The main thesis advanced in this dissertation is that Al researchers engage in engineering and scientific practices that exert different pressures and constraints on their work, creating a tension that is prevalent in most of Al. The tension generates a gap that the Al community usually tries to bridge by using a kind of metaphorical discourse. This has put AI in a problematic situation that could be overcome by engaging in a critical and conceptual analysis of the kind pursued in the present study. An empirical claim of this dissertation is that such an analysis could potentially contribute to the improvement of AI systems, if it pays attention to the following: (1) the intuitions, insights, or worldviews that have given rise to the conception of a system; (2) the broad social, cultural, and institutional context that motivates such conception; (3) the goals and objectives that are pursued in the implementation of the system; (4) the language that is used to characterize the goals; (5) the formal and technical methods that are used in such implementation; (6) the goals that are achieved in the real performance of the system, especially those that contribute to our better understanding of the human mind; (7) the problems confronted in the process of implementing the system, especially those that give rise to disparities among goals and achievements; (8) the solutions and methods adopted in facing those problems and disparities; (9) the efficacy and feasibility of these methods in reducing the gaps between goals and achievements; (10) the extent by which researchers have shown willingness to revisit and revise their presuppositions and assumptions in facing problems. |
