🤖 What is an Intelligent Agent?
An Intelligent Agent (IA) is an entity that
perceives its environment through sensors
and acts upon that environment using
actuators to achieve specific goals.
An agent is a software system that
perceives its environment, analyzes data,
and takes actions to achieve goals, often
with minimal human intervention
Four Approaches to Artificial Intelligence
1. Systems That Think Like Humans
🔸 These systems try to copy how humans think.
🔸 They focus on understanding and mimicking human reasoning.
📌 Example:
• A chatbot that tries to understand human emotions and responds like a
friend.
• Like: Siri or Alexa asking "Are you okay?" if it detects sadness in your
voice.
2. Systems That Think Rationally
🔸 These systems focus on thinking logically to find the best solution.
🔸 They don’t care if the thinking is human-like or not.
📌 Example:
• A GPS system that calculates the shortest and fastest route without
caring how humans would guess directions.
3. Systems That Act Like Humans
🔸 These systems behave like humans, even if their thinking isn’t
perfect.
🔸 The goal is to make them look and act human.
📌 Example:
• A robot receptionist that smiles, greets, and talks politely like a human
—even if it doesn't fully understand the meaning.
4. Systems That Act Rationally (Best one)
🔸 These systems focus on acting to achieve the best result, no matter
how they think.
🔸 They aim to make the best decisions.
📌 Example:
• A self-driving car that makes safe decisions, like stopping
automatically when it sees a person crossing, even if it's not acting like
a human driver.
RATIONALITY:
Rationality refers to the ability of an artificial agent to make decisions that
maximize its performance based on the information it has and the goals it
seeks to achieve. it ha
Daily life examples:
• Spending Money Wisely
• Studying Smartlyeks to achieve.
PEAS(Performance, Environment, Sensors, Actuators):
Performance Measure:
Performance measure is the unit to define the success of an agent. Performance varies
with agents based on their different precepts.
Environment:
Environment is the surrounding of an agent at every instant. It keeps changing with
time if the agent is set in motion.
Actuators:
An actuator is a part of the agent that delivers the output of action to the
environment.
Sensors:
Sensors are the receptive parts of an agent that takes in the input for the agent.
Environment & it’s types:
An environment in artificial intelligence is the surroundings of the agent.
• Fully Observable vs Partially Observable
• Deterministic vs Stochastic
• Competitive vs Collaborative
• Single-agent vs Multi-agent
• Static vs Dynamic
• Discrete vs Continuous
• Episodic vs Sequential
• Known vs Unknown
Types of Intelligent Agents in AI
1. Simple Reflex Agents
Key Points:
• Act only based on current percept.
• Do not store history or learn.
• Use condition–action rules (IF condition THEN
action).
• Can’t handle complex or unseen situations.
Example:
• Automatic Room Heater: Turns on/off based only
on current room temperature.
2. Model-Based Reflex Agents
Key Points:
• Maintain an internal state (memory of past
percepts).
• Can handle partially observable environments.
• Still uses condition–action rules but with knowledge
of the world.
🧾 Example:
Autonomous Vacuum Cleaner (e.g.,
Roomba)
3. Goal-Based Agents
Key Points:
• Make decisions by evaluating different actions
based on a specific goal.
• Require search and planning.
• More flexible than reflex agents.
🧾 Example:
Self-Driving Car (Autonomous
Vehicle)
4. Utility-Based Agents
Key Points:
• Choose actions that maximize a utility
function (overall happiness/success).
• Useful when multiple goals exist or when
goals may conflict.
• More complex than goal-based agents.
🧾 Example:
• Investment bots: Select portfolios with
maximum expected return and lowest risk.
• Self-driving cars: Decide not just how to
reach the destination, but safely, quickly, and
comfortably.
Agent Type Memory Goal-Oriented Learns? Real-Life Example
Thermostat, Basic
Simple Reflex ❌ ❌ ❌
Vacuum Cleaner
Smart Thermostat,
Model-Based Reflex ✅ ❌ ❌
Balancing Robots
GPS Navigation,
Goal-Based ✅ ✅ ❌
Delivery Drones
Self-driving Cars,
Utility-Based ✅ ✅ (flexible) ❌
Stock Bots
ChatGPT, YouTube
Learning Agent ✅ ✅ ✅ Suggestions, Smart
AI
