WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SPECIALIZATION: FINANCE & BANKING (English line)

Artificial Intelligence in Business

Student:
Andreea Alexandra BANCU
Series: 8, Group: 1

2010
WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA
 WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA

INTRODUCTION
MOTIVATION AND IMPORTANCE OF THEME

CHAPTER 1. INTELLIGENCE BEHAVIOR...................................................................1

1.1. DEFINITION............................................................................................................1
1.1.2. CHARACTERISTICS...........................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE..................................................................2
2.1. DEFINITION............................................................................................................2
2.2. HISTORY.................................................................................................................2
2.3. THE FOUNDERS.....................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 3. ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE...................................................3
3.1. COMPONENTS........................................................................................................3
3.1.1. ROBOTICS.....................................................................................................4
3.1.2. VISION SYSTEMS........................................................................................5
3.1.3. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND VOICE RECOGNITION. 5
3.1.4. LEARNING SYSTEMS.................................................................................6
3.1.5. NEURAL NETWORKS.................................................................................6
3.1.6. EXPERT SYSTEMS......................................................................................6
3.2. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE....7
3.3. EXAMPLES..............................................................................................................8
CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................8

REFERENCES
APPENDICES
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INTRODUCTION

Artificial Intelligence (short: AI) is a multidisciplinary field, including computer

science, philosophy, and psychology. The aim of Artificial Intelligence is to replicate
human’s brain activity. My project is about how the accountants can benefit from
Artificial Intelligence.
Accountants and auditors use Artificial Intelligence for example: for tax planning
and preparation to preparing audit programs to evaluating internal controls. AI consists of
several tools and techniques, that can identify, analyze and solve business problems and
implement those solutions.

MOTIVATION OF THEME

I have chosen this theme because I like informatics, robotics, science-fiction, and
a subject like Artificial Intelligence makes me feel comfort to talk about, and everything I
have done for this project I’ve done with pleasure.

CHAPTER 1. INTELLIGENCE BEHAVIOR

1.1. DEFINITION

Intelligence behavior is  the potential ability to acquire, retain, and apply

experience, understanding, knowledge, reasoning, and judgment in coping with new
experiences and in solving problems.

1.1.2. CHARACTERISTICS

Characteristics of intelligence behavior include the ability to:

 learn from experience (a key component of intelligent behavior and a natural
ability of humans);
 handle complex situations;
 solve problems when important information is missing;
 determinate what is important;
 react quickly and correctly to a new situation;
 understand visual images;
 process and manipulate symbols;
 be creative and imaginative;
 use heuristics.
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CHAPTER 2. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

2.1. DEFINITION

Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, is a combination of computer science,

physiology, and philosophy. Precise definitions are still the subject of debate. The
element that the fields of AI have in common is the creation of machines that can "think".
Artificial Intelligence text books define Artificial Intelligence as “the study and
design of intelligent agents”. An intelligent agent is a system that perceives its
environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.
John McCarthy, who coined the term “artificial intelligence” in 1956 defines it as
“the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”.
At Oracle Think Quest – Education Foundation, Artificial Intelligence is defined
as “the area of computer science focusing on creating machines that can engage on
behaviors that human consider intelligent” .

2.2. HISTORY

In Figure 1 I presented the major events from the Artificial Intelligent history.

Figure 1. History of Artificial Intelligence

1941 – First 1970 – 1986 – AI

Electronic First based
computer Expert hardware
System sells $425
million to
companies

1949 – First 1956 – The birth

commercial of AI, at
stored 1991 – AI system
Dartmouth beats human
program conference
computer chessmaster and AI
military systems
used effectively in
desert storm
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2.3. THE FOUNDERS

In Figure 2 I present clearly who does Artificial Intelligence. Artificial

Intelligence is a mix of: computer science, cognitive psychology, linguistics and
philosophy, and applications engineering.

Figure 2. The founders of Artificial Intelligence

algorithmics
A psychologist
with a background in the theory of
trying to understand how people
A computer scientist see patterns or solve problems

AI
A linguist
interested in subtle points of
grammar or Applications engineering
A logical – philosopher
who express all knowledge in the
first-order to predicate calculus

CHAPTER 3. ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

3.1. COMPONENTS

In Figure 3 you can see the major components of Artificial Intelligence, and their
description, examples of uses, below.
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Figure 3. The major components of Artificial Intelligence

Expert
systems

Neural
Robotic
network
s
s
Artificial
Intelligen
ce
Learnin
Vision
g
systems
systems
Natural
languag
e
processi
ng

3.1.1. ROBOTICS

Robotics involves developing mechanical or computer devices that can paint cars
for example, and other tasks that are hazardous for humans or require a high degree of
precision.
Robots are essential components of today’s automated manufacturing and military
systems, future robots will find applications in banks, restaurants, homes, doctor’s offices
and nuclear stations.
For many businesses, robots are used to do dirty and dangerous jobs (ex:
manufactures use robots to assemble and paint products).
Examples:
 Based originally on evolution ER-1 mobile robot is: Carmela (CMAssist) – see
videos from appendices;
 The Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver, Colorado uses a $1.2million da Vinci
surgical system to perform surgery on prostate cancer patients; The biggest
advantage is that it improves recovery time.
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3.1.2. VISION SYSTEMS

Another area of Artificial Intelligence involves vision systems, which include

hardware and software that permit computers to capture, store and manipulate visual
images and pictures.
Vision systems can be used with robots to give these machines “sight”. Factory
robots typically perform mechanical tasks with little or no visual stimuli. Robotic vision
allows the robot to make decisions based on visual input.
I think that it might take years before a robot can “see” in full color and draw
conclusions from what it perceives the way that people do.

3.1.3. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND VOICE RECOGNITION

Natural language processing allows a computer to understand and react to

statements and commands made in a “natural” language.
An example of application of speech recognition may allow us to make
transactions using voice commands over the phone and allows customers to use search
engines to have their questions answered.
Some companies claims that voice-recognition and natural language processing
software is so good that some customers forget they are talking to a computer and start
discussing the weather or sports scores.
In Figure 4 you can see how voice recognition works: Sound waves are turned
into words, then words into natural language processing, that react to the words or
commands to perform tasks.

Figure 4. Voice recognition

Sound waves

Words

Natural language processing react to the

words or commands to perform tasks
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3.1.4. LEARNING SYSTEMS

Another part of AI deals with learning systems, a combination of software and
hardware that allows a computer to change how it functions or reacts to situations based
on feedback it receives.
For example: some computerized games, if the computer does not win a game, it
remembers not to make the same moves under the same conditions again.
Learning systems software requires feedback on the results of actions or
decisions, minimum to indicate whether the results are desirable or undesirable.

3.1.5. NEURAL NETWORKS

A neural network is a computer system that can simulate the functioning of a

human brain.
For example, a chemical company can use neural network software to analyze a
large amount of data to control chemical reactors;
Specific abilities of neural networks:
 Retrieving information even if some of the neural nodes fail;
 Quickly modifying stored data as a result of a new information;
 Discovering relationships and trends in large databases;
 Solving complex problems for which all the information is not present;
 Analyzing detailed trends (large amusement parks and banks use neural networks
to determinate staffing needs based on customer traffic).

3.1.6. EXPERT SYSTEMS

An expert system consists of hardware and software that stores knowledge and
makes inferences, similar to those of a human expert. Like human experts, computerized
expert systems use heuristics to arrive at conclusions or make suggestions.
Expert systems have also been used to determinate credit limits for credit cards.
As another example, an agricultural company can use expert systems to
determinate the best fertilizer mix to use on certain soils to improve crops while
minimizing costs.
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3.2. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Figure 5. Differences between natural and Artificial Intelligence

NATURAL ARTIFICIAL
ABILITY TO:
INTELLIGENCE INTELLIGENCE

USE SENSORS (EYES, EARS,

++ +
TOUCH, SMELL)

BE CREATIVE AND
++ +
IMAGINATIVE

LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE ++ +

ADAPT TO NEW
++ +
SITUATIONS

AFFORD THE COST OF

++ +
ACQUIRING INTELLIGENCE

ACQUIRE A LARGE AMOUNT

++ ++
OF EXTERNAL INFORMATION

USE A VARIETY
++ ++
INFORMATION SOURCES

MAKE COMPLEX
+ ++
CALCULATIONS

TRANSFER INFORMATION + ++

MAKE A SERIES OF
CALCULATIONS RAPIDLY + ++
AND ACCURATELY
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3.3. EXAMPLES

Artificial Intelligence has found a home in financial services and is recognized as

a valuable addition to numerous business applications.
Examples of Artificial Intelligence applications in business and financial services:
 Credit authorization screening;
 Mortgage risk assessment;
 Project management and bidding strategy;
 Financial and economic forecasting;
 Risk rating of exchange-traded, fixed income investments;
 Detection of regularities in security price movements;
 Prediction of default and bankruptcy;
 Security and/or Asset Portfolio Management.

CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSIONS

Artificial Intelligence uses computer technologies to imitate a human expert's

behavior. Ai can identify, analyze and solve business problems and implement those
solutions. With AI technologies, computers can be more productive and business
processes can become more cost efficient.
To date, no computer Artificial Intelligence can match all dimensions of human
intelligence: for algorithmic problems, computers can perform faster, however humans
still write the programming.
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REFERENCES

 Books:
 GINZBERG, M.J. & REITMAN, W. (1982): Decision support systems,
Amsterdam: North-Holland;
 PERRY, Greg (2007) , Microsoft Office 2007 : 5 în 1: Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Ed. Teora;
 REITMAN, W. (May, 1983), Artificial Intelligence applications for
business – proceedings of the NYU symposium;
 RUSSELL, Stuart & NORVIG Peter (1995), Artificial Intelligence: A
modern approach, 3rd Edition, New Jersey: Prentice;
 STAIR, R. & REYNOLDS, G.(2008), Fundamentals of Information
Systems, 4th Edition, Thomson Course Technology;
 Internet:
 http://news.cnet.com/Getting-machines-to-think-like-us/2008-11394_3-
6090207.html (02-11-2010)
 http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/ (02-11-2010)
 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~coral/cmassist/ (03-11-2010)
 http://www.porterhospital.org/body.cfm?id=485(03-11-2010)
 http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/scope-of-artificial-
intelligence-in-business-328608.html(03-11-2010)
 http://www.google.com/imghp (04-11-2010)
 http://www.gainextinction.com/artificial-intelligence.html (05-11-2010)
 http://www.enotes.com/business-finance-encyclopedia/artificial-
intelligence (05-11-2010)
 News-papers:
 New York Times, Feb. 17, 1983;

APPENDICES

VIDEOS

 CMAssist – Video 1 – A video from RoboCup 2006 in Bremen, Germany. This

shows the robot doing the follow person, navigate, and open challenge tasks.
 CMAssist – Video 2 – A short demonstration of an algorithm that reduces an
image to a set of contours and tracks a set of the contours as they move around the
image.
 CMAssist – Video 3 – A video showing how the CMAssist robots can use video
(clothing color) and laser to track multiple people.
 CMAssist – Video 4 – This video show more advanced task training features.
 CMAssist – Video 5 – A video that demonstrate the task-training capabilities of
CMAssist.
 Voice recognition – Video 6 – A funny video about a voice recognition system in
an elevator.
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DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

 Expert system refers to hardware and software that stores knowledge and makes
inferences, similar to a human expert.
 Heuristics are rules of thumb arising from experience;
 Inferences means to indicate or involve as a conclusion;
 Intelligent agents is a system that perceives it’s environment and takes actions that
maximize its chances of success;
 Learning systems refers to a combination of software and hardware that allows
the computer to change how it functions or reacts to situations based on feedback
it receives;
 Natural language processing is processing that allows the computer to understand
and react to statements and commands made in a “natural” language, such as
English;
 Neural networks is a computer system that can act like or simulate the functioning
of a human brain;
 Robotics are mechanical or computer devices that perform tasks requiring a high
degree of precision or that are hazardous for humans;
 Vision systems represent the hardware and software that permit computers to
manipulate visual images and pictures;