CS 785 Intelligent Computer Interfaces

Note: Based on CS 685 currently in the calendar. Faculty who are interested in teaching this course: Robin Cohen, Nick Cercone, Chrysanne Di Marco.

Objectives

To cover subtopics in artificial intelligence that go beyond the syllabus of an introductory course. To address the topic of designing intelligent interfaces, including an overview of higher level natural language processing techniques of particular value in the construction of interfaces, models of plan recognition, discourse and natural language generation, and user modeling. To expose students to a variety of intelligent system applications currently being explored in the field, including agents and multi-agent systems, data mining and information retrieval, case-based reasoning and intelligent tutoring. To provide students with an overview of the subtopics of the course as well as exposure to current research papers, with an aim to developing skills in presentation of research, critical analysis of research and contribution of original thought.

Intended Audience

This is a course for CS graduate students, definitely including students in subareas of CS other than artificial intelligence.

Related Courses

CS486 (Logical Methods in AI) would be desirable but is not required. Some of the introductory lectures in the course help to get students up to speed in the background.

References

Series of papers which provide an overview of each course topic. Set of research papers determined by instructor which students select to present as part of course requirements. Current Recommended Reading: "Readings in Agents" edited by Huhns and Singh, Morgan Kaufmann, 1998.

Schedule

3 hours per week - typically 2 hour lecture and 1 hour of paper presentations by students to compliment the lecture material. Normally offered in alternate years.

Outline

Introduction (4 hr)
Overview of the course objectives including brief introduction to each of the course subtopics. Overview of artificial intelligence including the concepts of structured knowledge representation and planning. Discussion of the themes of intelligent interfaces and intelligent systems and their interrelationship.

Intelligent Interfaces (14 hrs)
Overview of natural language processing: syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Plan recognition. Models of discourse. Natural language generation. User Modeling. Paper presentations on the topics of plan recognition, discourse, generation and user modeling.

Intelligent Systems (14 hrs)
Agents (personal digital assistants) and multi-agent systems. AI approaches to data mining and information retrieval applications. Case-based reasoning and knowledge-based systems. Intelligent tutoring systems. Paper presentations on agents and multi-agent systems; on data mining and information processing; on case-based reasoning and knowledge-based systems; on intelligent tutoring systems. Current software systems for these intelligent applications.

Course Conclusion (7 hrs)
Project presentations to provide an overview of current research topics and directions. Wrap-up of course; summary of lessons learned.