Can Computers Change their Minds?

16^th May 2017, 13:00 Ashton Lecture Theater
Prof. Alan Bundy
Centre for Intelligent Systems and their Applications
School of Informatics
University of Edinburgh
Informatics Forum
10 Crichton Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9AB
Scotland

Abstract

Autonomous agents require models of their environment in order to interpret
sensory data and to make plans to achieve their goals, including anticipating the
results of the actions of themselves and other agents. These models must change
when the environment changes, including their models of other agents, or when
their goals change, since successful problem solving depends on choosing the
right representation of the problem. We are especially interested in conceptual
change, i.e., a change of the language in which the model is expressed. Failures
of reasoning can suggest repairs to faulty models. Such failures can, for
instance, take the form of inferring something false, failing to infer something
true or inference just taking too long. I will illustrate the automated repair of
faulty models drawing both on work multi-agent planning and on the evolution of
theories of physics.