WHAT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IS AND IS NOT

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING • In your own words, how does AI differ from an ordinary program? ◦ Answer: An ordinary program follows steps a person wrote in advance, while AI usually works out its behavior from patterns found in examples. • Is a modern chatbot general AI? ◦ Answer: No. ◦ It is a broad but still narrow system, because it works mainly with language and lacks flexible, human-level ability across all tasks. • Why is a thermostat with a fixed rule not considered AI in the modern sense? ◦ Answer: Because it only follows a rule a person wrote, and it does not learn or adapt from examples. • What makes a system an agent rather than a simple chatbot? ◦ Answer: An agent pursues a goal over many steps, uses tools, observes results, and decides what to do next in a loop. • Why should a harness engineer treat AI as narrow? ◦ Answer: Because assuming broad judgment leads to trusting the system with tasks it cannot safely do, while assuming narrowness leads to adding checks and limits.