The Natural Roots of Artificial Intelligence

To begin our exploration of AI we start with defining intelligence. The Oxford Universal Dictionary (1955) leans heavily on the word's Latin root, intelligere (to understand), defining intelligence as [1] the faculty of understanding; intellect; and [2] understanding as a quality admitting of degree; spec. While this focus on "understanding" does highlight the capacity to perceive meaning, it is overbroad; we need to look further for more clarity. Within academic circles, researchers do not have a universally shared definition of intelligence. Broadly speaking, there are four major viewpoints on intelligence that carry over to artificial intelligence research -- each with proponents and critics.