Skip to main content
Log in

Socially useful artificial intelligence

  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is presented as a set of tools with which we can try to come to terms with human problems, and with the assistance of which, some human problems can be solved. Artificial intelligence is located in its social context, in terms of the environment within which it is developed, and the applications to which it is put. Drawing on social theory, there is consideration of the collaborative and social problem-solving processes which are involved in artificial intelligence and society. In a look ahead to the coming generations of highly parallel computing systems, it is suggested that lessons can be learnt from the highly parallel processes of human social problem-solving.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abelson, Robert P. (1976), ‘Social Psychology's Man’, (eds) Benn, S.I., Mortimore, C.W.Rationality and the Social Sciences, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernal, J.D. (1969),Science in History, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam, (1972),Problems of Knowledge and Freedom, Fontana, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Randall (1984), ‘Amplifying Expertise with Expert Systems’ (eds) Winston, P., Prendergast, K.The AI Business, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ennals, Richard (1985),Artificial Intelligence: Applications to Logical Reasoning and Historical Research, Ellis Horwood, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ennals, Richard (1986),Star Wars: a Question of Initiative, John Wiley, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ennals, Richard, Cotterell, Arthur and Briggs, Jonathan (1987),Advanced Information Technology in Education and Training Hodder and Stoughton, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feigenbaum, Edward and McCorduck, Pamela (1983),The Fifth Generation, Addison Wesley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel (1972),The Archaeology of Knowledge, Tavistock, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, Anthony (1979),Central Problems in Social Theory, Macmillan, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, Karamjit (1986),Artificial Intelligence for Society, John Wiley, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godel, Kurt (1962),On formerly undecidable propositions of Principia Mathematica and related systems, New York.

  • Hammond, Peter (1983),APES User Manual, Department of Computing, Imperial College, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Steven (1986),A Knowledge-Based System for Language Development, M Phil dissertation, Brighton Polytechnic, Brighton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kowalski, Robert (1983),Logic and Belief, Department of Computing, Imperial College, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levi-Strauss, Claude (1969),The Elementary Structures of Kinship, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macchiavelli, Niccolo (1961),The Prince, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mannheim, Karl (1936),Ideology and Utopia, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michie, Donald and Johnston, Rory (1985),The Creative Computer, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Neumann, John and Morgenstern, Oscar (1944),The Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour, University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, Talcott (1937),The Structure of Social Action, McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, Jean (1971),Structuralism, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ringwood, Graem (1985),The Dining Logicians, Department of Computing, Imperial College, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, J.A. (1983), ‘Logical Reasoning in Machines’, (eds) Hayes, J.E. and Michie, D.,Intelligent Systems, Ellis Horwood, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sergot, Marek (1984), ‘A Query the User Facility for Logic Programming’, (ed) Yazdani, M.,New Horizons in Educational Computing, Ellis Horwood, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, Herbert (1969),The Sciences of the Artificial, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Henry (1983), ‘Natural Language Processing’, (eds) Sparck Jones, K. and Wilks, Y.,Automatic Natural Language Parsing, Ellis Horwood, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, Claude (1983),Language and Creativity, University of La Reunion.

  • Weber, Max (1954),Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1968),Philosophical Investigations, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ennals, R. Socially useful artificial intelligence. AI & Soc 1, 5–15 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01905885

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01905885

Keywords

Navigation