(AI), a term that in its broadest sense would indicate the ability of an artifact to perform the same kinds of functions that characterize human thought. The possibility of developing some such artifact has intrigued human beings since ancient times. With the growth of modern science, the search for AI has taken two major directions: psychological and physiological research into the nature of human thought, and the technological development of increasingly sophisticated computing systems. In the latter sense, the term AI has been applied to c ....