Artificial intelligence- also known as AI; the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior

Artificial neural networks- biologically inspired computational networks that mimic the way that biological neurons signal to one another; they are comprised of three layers:  input, hidden, and output

Conscious automata- a philosophical position suggesting that we, as humans, are subject to determinism instead of free will; automata are a predetermined set of actions

Deep Blue- IBM's chess-playing computer; the computer beat reigning world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, after having lost to him in 1996

Deep learning- a machine learning technique that teaches computers to do what comes naturally to humans...learn by example

Natural language processing- one component of AI; the ability of a computer program to understand human language as it is spoken and written -- referred to as natural language

Neuroevolution- a method for modifying input data in order to learn a specific task; compared to other neural network learning methods, neuroevolution is non-specific, allowing learning without explicit goals; it can also be combined with standard neural network learning, e.g. to biological adaptation; may also be seen as a method for reinforcement-learning problems, which help a person or AI learn how to attain a complex objective with many steps

Neuromorphic- in computer engineering, when the elements of a computer are modeled after systems in the human brain and nervous system; the term refers to both hardware and software

Pattern recognition systems- consists of four parts: a feature extractor (to select and measure raw input data), a pattern matcher (to compare an input pattern with a reference pattern), a reference template (to which the input pattern is compared), and a decision maker (which decides which reference pattern is closest to the input pattern); comparable to a human playing Concentration, though the patterns are sequences of numbers

Turing test- method for determining whether or not an AI is capable of thinking like a human being; during the test, the human researcher poses a series of questions to both a computer and a person, and makes a judgment based on the answers given

Watson- IBM's successor to Deep Blue; Watson won Jeopardy! in 2011, when it competed on live television against champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter