I was just wondering their are infinite many different ways of programming AI, but which technique of programming AI is the most sophisicated, and executes the fastest. I am not really familiar with all the different types of techniques of AI, so if you could give me a good link that would be helpful as well. What I am trying to say is that there are different ways of programming a search/sort in computer programming with arrays, and depending on how long/complex the array is the faster, and more sophisicated the searc/sort is. What is equilivant to this in AI programming?

I think you're looking for a simple solution for a complex problem.

Sorting a list has a very clearly defined goal. What is the goal with (the generically specified term) AI? It's not as clear cut a question.

The techniques used for AI depend upon what you're trying to achieve - one method may be very useful for solving one problem, but be completely useless for another. Hence there is no 'best' method for AI; in fact, even for a specific problem, there may be many ways of approaching it, each with a different strength / weakness profile.

As for the most complex AI - well, the sky's the limit really. There's plenty of sophisticated research out there you can find with a little looking. And asking for the quickest-executing is a nonsensical question as well - what you want is an AI technique that meets your requirements but also operates in a usable time.

Some terms I can suggest googling for:

Finite State Machines.
Fuzzy logic.
Flocking.
Neural networks.
Genetic algorithms.
Bayesian networks / decision trees.
Utility theory.

Of course, then you've got all the other constituent parts of AI, such as messaging and perception handling. It's a broad topic, and I would say a key-skill for an AI developer is being able to do a needs analysis for your project, and then having a broad enough knowledge of techniques to suggest something suitable to meet those requirements. Then you fine-tune down to find which technique(s) you'll end up using.

Finally, a couple of links: firstly there's the The GameAI page, which contains heaps of information. Next is The AI-Junkie website, with even more info. Finally, for a specific example, recently I've been reading this information on The Halo 2 AI.

Hope this is of some help, and sorry it's not a simple answer!

Jim.

Thanks for the help, and alot of info.