The Challenges of Real-Time AI

The research agendas of artificial intelligence and real-time systems are converging as AI methods move toward domains that require real-time responses, and real-time systems move toward complex applications that require intelligent behavior. They meet at the crossroads in an exciting new subfield commonly called "real-time AI." This subfield is still being defined, and the precise goals for various real-time AI systems are in flux. Traditionally, AI systems have been developed without much attention to the resource limitations that motivate real-time systems researchers. However, as these AI systems move from the research labs into real-world applications, they also become subject to the time constraints of the environments in which they operate.