---
title: Reading List for AI
---

AI is a multi-disciplinary topic.
While a lot of the research is on new algorithms to solve problems,
one cannot escape the fundamental question about what intelligence is.
We can also see that AI leads to a number of ethical concerns, begging
the question if AI is beneficial, and if some branches of malevolent,
what can we do about it?

This module seeks to discuss both technical and philosophical 
aspects of AI.

# Technical Texts

+ Russel & Norvig: *Artificial Intelligence. A Modern Approach*
  4th edition, global edition 2021.
    - Chapter 1-4, 6, 16, 19, 23, 28, and 29
    - Also note the [Exercises](https://aimacode.github.io/aima-exercises/)
      which are not included in the book itself.
+ Haupt & Haupt: *Practical Genetic Algorithms*
  Chapter 1-4 available on Blackboard
+ [Epstein 2009](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4020-6710-5)
  *Parsing the Turing Test*.
    + Turing's celebrated 1950 article is Chapter 3.  
      This is highly recommended.
+ [Dawid and Kopel 1998](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s001910050066)

# Philosophical Texts

All of these questions are part of the syllabus, but no textbook can
possibly answer them in full.  The following reading list highlights
some viewpoints which are worth considering.

+ Robert A. Heinlein: *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress*
+ Philip K. Dick: *Do androids dream of electric sheep?*
  (The story is also known as the film *Bladerunner*, but the book
  gives more food for thought.)
+ Joseph Weisenbaum: *Computer Power and Human Reason* (1976)
+ Donald A. Schön: *The Reflective Practitioner* (1983)
+ Herbert Simon: *Sciences of the Artificial* (1st edition 1969 and
  [third edition 1996](https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4551/The-Sciences-of-the-Artificial))
    - Simon (1972) [Theories of Bounded Rationality](http://innovbfa.viabloga.com/files/Herbert_Simon___theories_of_bounded_rationality___1972.pdf)
    - Simon (1973) [The structure of ill structured problems](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0004370273900118)
+ Schaathun (2022): `Where Schön and Simon agree' to appear.
  

All of these books are very readable.

For the record, Simon and Weizenbaum are notable pioneers in
Artifical Intelligence.  Weizenbaum is known for the psuchotherapy
chatbot called ELIZA, and Simon for the General Problem Solver which
is also cited by Russel and Norvig.

Heinlein and Dick write fiction; I recommend these two books because
they specifically address the boundary between man and machine.  
There are of course many other books worth reading to explore this
question.  These two are simply the best that I have read.

Schön, like Simon, write about design and development method.
In particular, Schön challenges the mechanistic and scientific
approach to design and engineering, and may thus address the limits
of artificial intelligence.