are there such things? and in what sort of fields/areas, besides purely academic research?

There are quite a few jobs in AI. Government contracts are a big one. Security with image recognition. There are jobs in search engines. One thing that you have to remember is that AI is not actually artificial intellegence. It is mostly comprised of algorithms and mathematical equasions. Only AI in research tries to represent cognitive models. These models are rarely used in corporate environments.

Some jobs include;
CRM (Customer Relations Management)
Automated chat programs (Eliza)
Telemarketing
Predictive Dialers
Economics
Stock Prediction
Optimum Equilibrium finding (game theory)
etc...

-lucas

I work in molecular modeling at a pharmaceutical firm. I use statistical and AI methods to predict toxicity of chemicals and help design new drugs.

-Kirk

Same basic idea here (A.I. + statistics), except I predict who is going to pay their credit card bill and who isn''t.

-Predictor
http://will.dwinnell.com

quote:

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Original post by Predictor
Same basic idea here (A.I. + statistics), except I predict who is going to pay their credit card bill and who isn''t.

-Predictor
http://will.dwinnell.com

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hehehehehe, the page said this:

quote:

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Because of your geographic location we are unable to process your request at this time.

You are being redirected to a site that better suits your needs.

Please wait 5 seconds or click here to be redirected.

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and then it redirected me here!:

www.flirtingpassion.com

LOL!

LOL predictors site works for me...
Is there much in the way of AI programmer needs in games? Is AI generally something big enough to be handled as a separate position? or just a job a few of the programmers get handed?

I'm quite interested in AI for games and such, possibly security applications, would a general CS degree do? or CS with a masters in AI? whats your educational background?


[edited by - dovyman on January 8, 2004 7:05:00 PM]

There are plenty of dedicated AI developers in games. Most of us end up handling other odds and ends, but AI is certainly the core of our jobs.

A BS would definitely do, though if you enjoy it, feel free to go further. I regret not staying in college longer -- I managed to get a job in the industry 2 years in to college, just after getting my first project out the door. Had I finished college before moving in to the game industry:

1) I would be much better at math
2) I would have a broader set of AI specific experience (I read constantly, but that isn''t the same as dedicated learning and applying in college, particularly as I only have about one day a week to sit down and focus on learning)
3) I would have a fallback if the game industry turned sour.
4) I might not be as obsessive about spending all of my spare time reading and keeping up.

As it is, I feel pretty confident in my ability to do my job. I probably have a ceiling on where I can go, but at the moment, I am loving it.

What Predictor does is a very common use of AI tools... particularly pattern recognition, data mining and causal modelling. The banking and finance industry is rife with companies looking to be able to predict when people are likely to default and when they are not, based solely on their application and past trends of applicants.

Personally, I work in a hospital building a software based system to predict seizures in patients with Epilepsy through the analysis of their brain (EEG) electrical activity. I''m looking at getting back into my previous line of work, which is in intelligent autonomous vehicles.

As for AI in games... yes, many companies now see the value of having dedicated AI programmers, although typically speaking you''ll be doing more than just AI for the game. Having said that though, the sorts of AI you would be doing at a game company will be low level and not always overly interesting (at least IMO).

Cheers,

Timkin

quote:

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Original post by kirkd
I work in molecular modeling at a pharmaceutical firm. I use statistical and AI methods to predict toxicity of chemicals and help design new drugs.

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Nice. How many bunnies did you save this year?

Sorry my interests aren't focused solely on games.


-Kirk


[edited by - KirkD on January 9, 2004 11:51:43 AM]