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What is logic in Artificial Intelligence?
In this article, we are going to learn about the logic which we mentioned earlier in the knowledge representation of Artificial Intelligence-based agent. We will discuss what logic means in terms of AI and what are the types of logic. We will also study about why these are important while dealing with Artificial Intelligence.
Submitted by Monika Sharma, on June 06, 2019
Logic in Artificial Intelligence
Logic, as per the definition of the Oxford dictionary, is "the reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles and validity". In Artificial Intelligence also, it carries somewhat the same meaning. Logic can be defined as the proof or validation behind any reason provided. It is simply the ‘dialectics behind reasoning’. It was important to include logic in Artificial Intelligence because we want our agent (system) to think and act humanly, and for doing so, it should be capable of taking any decision based on the current situation. If we talk about normal human behavior, then a decision is made by choosing an option from the various available options. There are reasons behind selecting or rejecting an option. So, our artificial agent should also work in this manner.
While taking any decision, the agent must provide specific reasons based on which the decision was taken. And this reasoning can be done by the agent only if the agent has the capability of understanding the logic.
Types of logics in Artificial Intelligence
In artificial Intelligence, we deal with two types of logics:
- Deductive logic
- Inductive logic
1) Deductive logic
In deductive logic, the complete evidence is provided about the truth of the conclusion made. Here, the agent uses specific and accurate premises that lead to a specific conclusion. An example of this logic can be seen in an expert system designed to suggest medicines to the patient. The agent gives the complete proof about the medicines suggested by it, like the particular medicines are suggested to a person because the person has so and so symptoms.
2) Inductive logic
In Inductive logic, the reasoning is done through a ‘bottom-up’ approach. What this means is that the agent here takes specific information and then generalizes it for the sake of complete understanding. An example of this can be seen in the natural language processing by an agent in which it sums up the words according to their category, i.e. verb, noun article, etc., and then infers the meaning of that sentence.