Artificial Intelligence (AI)

 In today's world, technology is growing very fast, and we are getting in touch with different new

technologies day by day.

 Here, one of the booming technologies of computer science is Artificial Intelligence which is ready

to create a new revolution in the world by making intelligent machines.

 The Artificial Intelligence is now all around us.

 It is currently working with a variety of subfields, ranging from general to specific, such as

self-driving cars, playing chess, proving theorems, playing music, Painting, etc.
2nd semester 2010 Dr. Qusai Abuein 2
Hua Zhibing, China's first virtual
student developed by Tsinghua
University
 Artificial Intelligence is composed of two words Artificial and Intelligence, where Artificial defines
"man-made," and intelligence defines "thinking power", hence AI means "a man-made thinking
power."

 So, we can define AI as:

 "It is a branch of computer science by which we can create intelligent machines which can behave
like a human, think like humans, and able to make decisions."

 Artificial Intelligence exists when a machine can have human based skills such as learning, reasoning, and
solving problems

 With Artificial Intelligence you do not need to preprogram a machine to do some work, despite that you
can create a machine with programmed algorithms which can work with own intelligence, and that is the
awesomeness of AI.

 It is believed that AI is not a new technology, and some people says that as per Greek myth, there were
Mechanical men in early days which can work and behave like humans
Goals of Artificial Intelligence

 Replicate human intelligence

 Solve Knowledge-intensive tasks

 An intelligent connection of perception and action

 Building a machine which can perform tasks that requires human intelligence such as:

• Proving a theorem

• Plan some surgical operation

• Driving a car in traffic

 Creating some system which can exhibit intelligent behavior, learn new things by itself, demonstrate,

explain, and can advise to its user.

 SEARCH ALGORITHMS
IN
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Search algorithms are one of the most important areas

of Artificial Intelligence.

Problem-solving agents:

 In Artificial Intelligence, Search techniques are

universal problem-solving methods.

 Rational agents or Problem-solving agents in AI mostly

used these search strategies or algorithms to solve a

specific problem and provide the best result.

 Problem-solving agents are the goal-based agents

Search Algorithm Terminologies:

Search:

Searching is a step by step procedure to solve a search-problem in a given search space.

A search problem can have three main factors:

Search Space: Search space represents a set of possible solutions, which a system may have.

Start State: It is a state from where agent begins the search.

Goal test: It is a function which observe the current state and returns whether the goal state is

achieved or not.
Search tree: A tree representation of search problem is called Search tree. The root of the search

tree is the root node which is corresponding to the initial state.

Actions: It gives the description of all the available actions to the agent.

Transition model: A description of what each action do, can be represented as a transition

model.

Path Cost: It is a function which assigns a numeric cost to each path.

Solution: It is an action sequence which leads from the start node to the goal node.

Optimal Solution: If a solution has the lowest cost among all solutions.
Properties of Search Algorithms:

Following are the four essential properties of search algorithms to compare the efficiency of these

algorithms:

Completeness: A search algorithm is said to be complete if it guarantees to return a solution if at least

any solution exists for any random input.

Optimality: If a solution found for an algorithm is guaranteed to be the best solution (lowest path cost)

among all other solutions, then such a solution for is said to be an optimal solution.

Time Complexity: Time complexity is a measure of time for an algorithm to complete its task.

Space Complexity: It is the maximum storage space required at any point during the search, as the

complexity of the problem

Types of search algorithms

Based on the search problems we can classify the search algorithms into uninformed (Blind search)

search and informed search (Heuristic search) algorithms.

Uninformed/Blind Search:

 The uninformed search does not contain any domain knowledge such as closeness, the location

of the goal.

 It operates in a brute-force way as it only includes information about how to traverse the tree

and how to identify leaf and goal nodes.

 Uninformed search applies a way in which search tree is searched without any information about

the search space like initial state operators and test for the goal, so it is also called blind search.

 It examines each node of the tree until it achieves the goal node.
Informed Search

 Informed search algorithms use domain knowledge.

 In an informed search, problem information is available which can guide the search. Informed

search strategies can find a solution more efficiently than an uninformed search strategy.

 Informed search is also called a Heuristic search.

 A heuristic is a way which might not always be guaranteed for best solutions but guaranteed to

find a good solution in reasonable time.

 Informed search can solve much complex problem which could not be solved in another way.

An example of informed search algorithms is a traveling salesman problem.

 Greedy Search

 A* Search
Uninformed Search Algorithms

 Uninformed search is a class of general-purpose search algorithms which operates in brute force-way.

 Uninformed search algorithms do not have additional information about state or search space other

than how to traverse the tree, so it is also called blind search.

1. Breadth-first Search:

 Breadth-first search is the most common search strategy for traversing a tree or graph. This

algorithm searches breadthwise in a tree or graph, so it is called breadth-first search.

 BFS algorithm starts searching from the root node of the tree and expands all successor node at the

current level before moving to nodes of next level.

 The breadth-first search algorithm is an example of a general-graph search algorithm.

 Breadth-first search implemented using FIFO queue data structure

Advantages:

 BFS will provide a solution if any solution exists.

 If there are more than one solutions for a given problem, then BFS will provide the minimal solution which

requires the least number of steps.

Disadvantages:

 It requires lots of memory since each level of the tree must be saved into memory to expand the next level.

 BFS needs lots of time if the solution is far away from the root node
Example:

 In the below tree structure, we have shown the traversing of the tree using BFS algorithm from the root node S to

goal node K.

 BFS search algorithm traverse in layers, so it will follow the path which is shown by the dotted arrow, and the

traversed path will be:

S---> A--->B---->C--->D---->G--->H--->E---->F---->I---->K
S---> A--->B---->C--->D---->G--->H--->E---->F---->I---->K
Time Complexity:

 Time Complexity of BFS algorithm can be obtained by the number of nodes traversed in BFS until the
shallowest Node.

 Where the d= depth of shallowest solution and b is a node at every state.

O (bd)

Space Complexity: Space complexity of BFS algorithm is given by the Memory size of frontier which is O(b d+1).

Completeness: BFS is complete, which means if the shallowest goal node is at some finite depth, then BFS will

find a solution.

Optimality: BFS is optimal only when all actions have same cost, let it be any depth
Depth-first Search

 Depth-first search is a recursive algorithm for traversing a tree or graph data structure.

 It is called the depth-first search because it starts from the root node and follows each path to its greatest depth

node before moving to the next path.

 DFS uses a stack data structure for its implementation.

 The process of the DFS algorithm is similar to the BFS algorithm.

Advantage:

 DFS requires very less memory as it only needs to store a stack of the nodes on the path from root node to the

current node.

 It takes less time to reach to the goal node than BFS algorithm (if it traverses in the right path).
Disadvantage:

 There is the possibility that many states keep re-occurring, and there is no guarantee of finding the solution.

 DFS algorithm goes for deep down searching and sometime it may go to the infinite loop.

Example:

In the below search tree, we have shown the flow of depth-first search, and it will follow the order as:

Root node--->Left node ----> right node.

 It will start searching from root node S, and traverse A, then B, then D and E, after traversing E, it will backtrack the

tree as E has no other successor and still goal node is not found.

 After backtracking it will traverse node C and then G, and here it will terminate as it found goal node.
Depth-Limited Search Algorithm:

 A depth-limited search algorithm is similar to depth-first search with a predetermined limit to depth level L.

 Depth-limited search can solve the drawback of the infinite path in the Depth-first search. In this algorithm, the node

at the depth limit will treat as it has no successor nodes further.

Depth-limited search can be terminated with two Conditions of failure:

 Standard failure value: It indicates that problem does not have any solution.

 Cutoff failure value: It defines no solution for the problem within a given depth limit.
Advantages:

 Depth-limited search is Memory efficient.

Disadvantages:

 Depth-limited search also has a disadvantage of incompleteness.

 It may not be optimal if the problem has more than one solution.
Completeness: DLS search algorithm is complete if the solution
is above the depth-limit.

Optimal: Depth-limited search can be viewed as a special case of

DFS, and it is also not optimal even if ℓ>d , because shallowest
goal state may be ignored while reaching at depth level
Uniform-cost Search Algorithm:

 Uniform-cost search is a searching algorithm used for traversing a weighted tree or graph.

 This algorithm comes into play when a different cost is available for each edge.

 The primary goal of the uniform-cost search is to find a path to the goal node which has the lowest cumulative

cost. Uniform-cost search expands nodes according to their path costs form the root node.

 It can be used to solve any graph/tree where the optimal cost is in demand.

 A uniform-cost search algorithm is implemented by the priority queue.

 It gives maximum priority to the lowest cumulative cost.

 Uniform cost search is equivalent to BFS algorithm if the path cost of all edges is the same.
Advantages:

 Uniform cost search is optimal because at every state the path with the least cost is chosen.

Disadvantages:

 It does not care about the number of steps involve in searching and only concerned about path cost.

 Due to which this algorithm may be stuck in an infinite loop.

Completeness/optimality:

Uniform-cost search is complete, such as if there is a optimal

solution, UCS will find it by reaching the goal state having lowest
path cost
Time Complexity:

Let C* is Cost of the optimal solution, and ε is each step to get

closer to the goal node. Then the number of steps is = C*/ε+1.
Here we have taken +1, as we start from state 0 and end to
C*/ε.

Hence, the worst-case time complexity of Uniform-cost search

is O(b1 + [C*/ε])/
Iterative deepening depth-first Search:

 The iterative deepening algorithm is a combination of DFS and BFS algorithms. This search algorithm finds

out the best depth limit and does it by gradually increasing the limit until a goal is found.

 This algorithm performs depth-first search up to a certain "depth limit", and it keeps increasing the depth

limit after each iteration until the goal node is found.

 This Search algorithm combines the benefits of Breadth-first search's fast search and depth-first search's

memory efficiency.

 The iterative search algorithm is useful uninformed search when search space is large, and depth of goal

node is unknown.
Advantages:

 It combines the benefits of BFS and DFS search algorithm in terms of fast search and memory efficiency.

Disadvantages:

 The main drawback of IDDFS is that it repeats all the work of the previous phase
 Example:

 Following tree structure is showing the iterative deepening depth-first search.

 IDDFS algorithm performs various iterations until it does not find the goal node.

 The iteration performed by the algorithm is given as:

1'st Iteration-----> A

2'nd Iteration----> A, B, C

3'rd Iteration------>A, B, D, E, C, F, G

4'th Iteration------>A, B, D, H, I, E, C, F, K, G

In the fourth iteration, the algorithm will find the goal node.
Bidirectional Search Algorithm:

 Bidirectional search algorithm runs two simultaneous searches, one form initial state called as

forward-search and other from goal node called as backward-search, to find the goal node.

 Bidirectional search replaces one single search graph with two small subgraphs in which one starts

the search from an initial vertex and other starts from goal vertex.

 The search stops when these two graphs intersect each other.

 Bidirectional search can use search techniques such as BFS, DFS, DLS, etc.
Advantages:

• Bidirectional search is fast.

• Bidirectional search requires less memory

Disadvantages:

 Implementation of the bidirectional search tree is difficult.

 In bidirectional search, one should know the goal state in advance.

Example:

 In the below search tree, bidirectional search algorithm is applied.

 This algorithm divides one graph/tree into two sub-graphs.

 It starts traversing from node 1 in the forward direction and starts from goal node 16 in the backward

direction.

 The algorithm terminates at node 9 where two searches meet.

Completeness: Bidirectional Search is complete if we use BFS in both searches.

Optimal: Bidirectional search is Optimal

Informed Search:

 Knowledge-based search algorithms (also known as heuristic search) have been developed to incorporate

heuristic information, such as estimated costs, to guide the search process efficiently.

 Greedy Best-First Search was one such algorithm, but it did not guarantee optimality for finding the

shortest path.
 A* Search Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

An Introduction to A* Search Algorithm in AI

 A* (pronounced "A-star") is a powerful graph traversal and path finding algorithm widely used in artificial intelligence and

computer science.

 It is mainly used to find the shortest path between two nodes in a graph, given the estimated cost of getting from the current node to the

destination node.

 The main advantage of the algorithm is its ability to provide an optimal path by exploring the graph in a more informed way compared

to traditional search algorithms such as Dijkstra's algorithm.

 Algorithm A* combines the advantages of two other search algorithms: Dijkstra's algorithm and Greedy Best-First Search.

 Like Dijkstra's algorithm, A* ensures that the path found is as short as possible but does so more efficiently by directing its search

through a heuristic similar to Greedy Best-First Search.

 A heuristic function, denoted h(n), estimates the cost of getting from any given node n to the destination node.
 The main idea of A* is to evaluate each node based on two parameters:

g(n): the actual cost to get from the initial node to node n. It represents the sum of the costs of node n outgoing edges.

h(n): Heuristic cost (also known as "estimation cost") from node n to destination node n.

 This problem-specific heuristic function must be acceptable, meaning it never overestimates the actual cost of achieving

the goal. The evaluation function of node n is defined as f(n) = g(n) h(n).

Algorithm A* selects the nodes to be explored based on the lowest value of f(n), preferring the nodes with the lowest

estimated total cost to reach the goal.

The A* algorithm works:

 Create an open list - tracks of nodes need to be examined.

 Create a closed list to hold already explored nodes.

 Add a starting node to the open list with an initial value of g

 Repeat the following steps until the open list is empty or you reach the target node:

 Find the node with the smallest f-value (i.e., the node with the minor g(n) h(n)) in the open list.

 Move the selected node from the open list to the closed list.

 Create all valid descendants of the selected node.

 For each successor, calculate its g-value as the sum of the current node's g value and the cost of moving

from the current node to the successor node. Update the g-value of the tracker when a better path is found.

 If the follower is not in the open list, add it with the calculated g-value and calculate its h-value. If it is

already in the open list, update its g value if the new path is better.
 Repeat the cycle. Algorithm A* terminates when the target node is reached or when the open list empties, indicating

no paths from the start node to the target node. The A* search algorithm is widely used in various fields such as

robotics, video games, network routing, and design problems because it is efficient and can find optimal paths in

graphs or networks.
Early search algorithms:

 Before the development of A*, various graph search algorithms existed, including Depth-First Search (DFS) and

Breadth-First Search (BFS).

 Although these algorithms helped find paths, they did not guarantee optimality or consider heuristics to guide the

search

History of the A* Search Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

 It was developed by Peter Hart, Nils Nilsson, and Bertram Raphael at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI

International) as an extension of Dijkstra's algorithm and other search algorithms of the time.

 A* was first published in 1968 and quickly gained recognition for its importance and effectiveness in the artificial

intelligence and computer science communities.

Dijkstra's algorithm:

 In 1959, Dutch computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra introduced Dijkstra's algorithm, which found the shortest path

in a weighted graph with non-negative edge weights.

 Dijkstra's algorithm was efficient, but due to its exhaustive nature, it had limitations when used on larger graphs

A* development:

 In 1968, Peter Hart, Nils Nilsson, and Bertram Raphael introduced the A* algorithm as a combination of Dijkstra's

algorithm and Greedy Best-First Search.

 A* used a heuristic function to estimate the cost from the current node to the destination node by combining it with

the actual cost of reaching the current node.

 This allowed A* to explore the graph more consciously, avoiding unnecessary paths and guaranteeing an optimal

solution.
 Righteousness and Perfection:

 The authors of A* showed that the algorithm is perfect (always finds a solution if one exists) and optimal (finds the shortest path)

under certain conditions.

Wide-spread adoption and progress:

A* quickly gained popularity in the AI and IT communities due to its efficiency and Researchers and developers have extended and

applied the A* algorithm to various fields, including robotics, video games, engineering, and network routing.

Several variations and optimizations of the A* algorithm have been proposed over the years, such as Incremental A* and Parallel A*.

 Today, the A* search algorithm is still a fundamental and widely used algorithm in artificial intelligence and graph traversal.

 It continues to play an essential role in various applications and research fields.

 Its impact on artificial intelligence and its contribution to pathfinding and optimization problems have made it a cornerstone

algorithm in intelligent systems research.

Advantages of A* Search Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

 Optimal solution

 Completeness

 Efficiency

 Versatility

 Optimized search

 Memory efficiency

 Tunable Heuristics

 Extensively researched

 Web search
Optimal solution:

 A* ensures finding the optimal (shortest) path from the start node to the destination node in the weighted

graph given an acceptable heuristic function.

 This optimality is a decisive advantage in many applications where finding the shortest path is essential.

Completeness:

 If a solution exists, A* will find it, provided the graph does not have an infinite cost This completeness

property ensures that A* can take advantage of a solution if it exists.

Efficiency:

 A* is efficient if an efficient and acceptable heuristic function is used.

 Heuristics guide the search to a goal by focusing on promising paths and avoiding unnecessary exploration, making

A* more efficient than non-aware search algorithms such as breadth-first search or depth-first search.

Versatility:

 A* is widely applicable to various problem areas, including way finding, route planning, robotics, game

development, and more.

 A* can be used to find optimal solutions efficiently as long as a meaningful heuristic can be defined.
Optimized search:

 A* maintains a priority order to select the nodes with the minor f(n) value (g(n) and h(n)) for

expansion.

 This allows it to explore promising paths first, which reduces the search space and leads to faster

convergence.

Memory efficiency:

 Unlike some other search algorithms, such as breadth-first search, A* stores only a limited number

of nodes in the priority queue, which makes it memory efficient, especially for large graphs.
Tunable Heuristics:

 A*'s performance can be fine-tuned by selecting different heuristic functions.

 More educated heuristics can lead to faster convergence and less expanded nodes.

Extensively researched:

 A* is a well-established algorithm with decades of research and practical applications.

 Many optimizations and variations have been developed, making it a reliable and well-understood

troubleshooting tool.

Web search:

 A* can be used for web-based path search, where the algorithm constantly updates the path according

to changes in the environment or the appearance of new It enables real-time decision-making in

dynamic scenarios.
Disadvantages of A* Search Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

 Although the A* (letter A) search algorithm is a widely used and powerful technique for solving AI pathfinding and

graph traversal problems, it has disadvantages and limitations.

 Here are some of the main disadvantages of the search algorithm:

 Heuristic accuracy

 Memory usage

 Time complexity

 Bottleneck at the destination

 Cost Binding

 Complexity in dynamic environments

 Perfection in infinite space

Heuristic accuracy:

 The performance of the A* algorithm depends heavily on the accuracy of the heuristic function used to estimate

the cost from the current node to the If the heuristic is unacceptable (never overestimates the actual cost) or

inconsistent (satisfies the triangle inequality), A* may not find an optimal path or may explore more nodes than

necessary, affecting its efficiency and accuracy.

Memory usage:

 A* requires that all visited nodes be kept in memory to keep track of explored paths.

 Memory usage can sometimes become a significant issue, especially when dealing with an ample search space or

limited memory resources.

Time complexity:

 Although A* is generally efficient, its time complexity can be a concern for vast search spaces or graphs.

 In the worst case, A* can take exponentially longer to find the optimal path if the heuristic is inappropriate

for the problem.

Bottleneck at the destination:

 In specific scenarios, the A* algorithm needs to explore nodes far from the destination before finally

reaching the destination region.

 This the problem occurs when the heuristic needs to direct the search to the goal early effectively.
Cost Binding:

 A* faces difficulties when multiple nodes have the same f-value (the sum of the actual cost and the

heuristic cost).

 The strategy used can affect the optimality and efficiency of the discovered path. If not handled correctly,

it can lead to unnecessary nodes being explored and slow down the algorithm.

Complexity in dynamic environments:

 In dynamic environments where the cost of edges or nodes may change during the search, A* may not be

suitable because it does not adapt well to such changes.

 Reformulation from scratch can be computationally expensive, and D* (Dynamic A*) algorithms were

designed to solve this

Applications of the A* Search Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

 Path finding in Games:

 Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles

 Maze solving

 Route planning and navigation

 Puzzle-solving

 Network Routing

 Natural Language Processing (NLP)

 Path planning in robotics

 Game AI
Path finding in Games:

 A* is often used in video games for character movement, enemy AI navigation, and finding the shortest path from one location to

another on the game map.

 Its ability to find the optimal path based on cost and heuristics makes it ideal for real-time applications such as games.

Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles:

 A* is used in robotics and autonomous vehicle navigation to plan an optimal route for robots to reach a destination, avoiding

obstacles and considering terrain costs.

Maze solving:

 A* can efficiently find the shortest path through a maze, making it valuable in many maze-solving applications, such as solving

puzzles or navigating complex structures.

Route planning and navigation:

 In GPS systems and mapping applications, A* can be used to find the optimal route between two points on a map, considering

factors such as distance, traffic conditions, and road network topology.

Puzzle-solving: A* can solve various diagram puzzles, such as sliding puzzles, Sudoku, and the 8-puzzle problem.

Resource Allocation:

In scenarios where resources must be optimally allocated, A* can help find the most efficient allocation path, minimizing cost

and maximizing efficiency.

Network Routing:

A* can be used in computer networks to find the most efficient route for data packets from a source to a destination node.

Natural Language Processing (NLP):

In some NLP tasks, A* can generate coherent and contextual responses by searching for possible word sequences based on their

likelihood and relevance.

Path planning in robotics:
 A* can be used to plan the path of a robot from one point to another, considering various constraints, such as avoiding
obstacles or minimizing energy consumption.
Game AI:
 A* is also used to make intelligent decisions for non-player characters (NPCs), such as determining the best way to reach an
objective or coordinate movements in a team-based game
Calculate
BFS
DFS
DLS
IDDFS