Machines that can improvise

Computers are already capable of making independent decisions in familiar situations. But can they also apply knowledge to new facts? Mark Winands, the new professor of Machine Reasoning at the Department of Advanced Computing Sciences, develops computer programs that behave as rational agents. This means they can independently think through the consequences of a decision-yet another leap forward in artificial intelligence (AI). But Winands has no time for doomsday predictions on how AI is set to outstrip humans. "Generic reasoning systems are laughably bad." In conversation, it is immediately evident that he is accustomed to explaining complex issues. What he wants computers to learn is similar to what people usually do, Winands says. Suppose you have to respond to an unforeseen circumstance with unknown consequences.