CPSC 422 - Artificial Intelligence 2 - Intelligent Systems (Term2,  Spring 2014)

Overview

Grades

Textbook

Schedule

Readings

 

Overview

Course Description:  This is an advanced AI course that builds on the foundations of CPSC 322 and CSPC 312 to show how to build intelligent agents that can observe the world, create appropriate representations, perform inference on those and act appropriately. Such agents include robots, intelligent tutoring systems, diagnostic agents, purchasing agents, and game agents.

We will begin by expanding on what we discussed in CPSC 322 about decision making under uncertainty, and spend some time on the issues that arise in multi-stage decision processes, including planning and learning for acting. We will then cover approximate inference in Bnets and more efficient temporal inferences in HMM. Other graphical models will be also covered, including Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) and LDA models. We will then switch to Deterministic environments and expand the treatment of logics from  CPSC 322, considering First Order Logics (FOL), satisfiability and ontologies. Finally, we will study representations that attempt to combine Logics with Probabilities, like Markov Logics and Probabilistic Relational Models.  Throughout, we will pay special attention to the understanding the state of the art and we will discuss several applications and research papers.

• Meeting Times: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:00 - 11:00 PM
• First Class: Mon, Jan 6, 2014
• Location: DMP 101
• Instructor: Giuseppe Carenini 
• Instructor's Office Location: CICSR 105
• Instructor's Office Hours: Mondays 11-12, my office CICSR 105.
• TA Office Hours:
  • Kamyar Ardekani kamyar.ardekany@gmail.com;   X150 (Learning Center) Table 4 for Thursdays 12:30 - 1:30
• Course Discussion Board: yet TBD (the place to submit your questions and get answers, as well as see answers given to others): log into Connect using your CWL. If you need assistance with Connect, there are number of resources available. You can access those resources at http://elearning.ubc.ca/connect/student-resources/ If you who have technical issues with Connect should contact the IT Service Centre Help Desk at 604.822.2008 or http://it.ubc.ca/contact/helpdesk.html.
• AISpace: demo applets that illustrate some of the techniques covered in class
• Prerequisites: CPSC 322 and CSPC 312
• Final exam: TBA

Grades

Grading Scheme: Evaluation will be based on a set of  assignments, a midterm, and an exam. Important: you must pass the final in order to pass the course. The instructor reserves the right to adjust this grading scheme during the term, if necessary.

• Assignments -- 15%
• Readings: Questions and Summaries -- 10%
• Midterm -- 30%
• Final -- 45%

If your grade improves substantially from the midterm to the final, defined as a final exam grade that is at least 20% higher than the midterm grade, then the following grade breakdown will be used instead.

• Assignments -- 15%

• Readings: Questions and Summaries -- 10%

• Midterm -- 15%

• Final -- 60%

   

The assignment grade will be computed by adding up the number of points you get across all assignments, dividing this number by the number of possible points, and multiplying by 20.  Assignments will not be graded out of the same number of points; this means that they will not be weighted equally.

Late Assignments: Assignments are to be handed in BEFORE the start of lecture on the due date. However, every student is allotted four "late days", which allow assignments to be handed in late without penalty on three days or parts of days during the term.  The purpose of late days is to allow students the flexibility to manage unexpected obstacles to coursework that arise during the course of the term, such as travel, moderate illness, conflicts with other courses, extracurricular obligations, job interviews, etc.  Thus, additional late days will NOT be granted except under truly exceptional circumstances.  If an assignment is submitted late and a student has used up all of her/his late days, 20% will be deducted for every day the assignment is late. (E.g., an assignment 2 days late and graded out of 100 points will be awarded a maximum of 60 points.)

How late does something have to be to use up a late day? A day is defined as a 24-hour block of time beginning at 10AM on the day an assignment is due.  To use a late day, write the number of late days claimed on the first page of your assignment

 Examples:

• Handing in an assignment at the end of lecture on the day it is due consumes one late day. 
• Handing in an assignment at 9:15 the morning after it is due consumes one late day.
• Handing in an assignment at 11:30 the day after an assignment is due consumes two late days.

Assignments can be handed in electronically using handin; this is the only way to hand in late assignments over a weekend. Written work can also be put in Giuseppe's mailbox in the main CS office (room 201); ask the secretary to time-stamp it.

Missing Deadlines or Exams: In truly exceptional circumstances, when accompanied by a note from Student Health Services or a Department Advisor, the following arrangements will be made.

• If an assignment cannot be completed, the assignment grade will be computed based on the remaining assignments. Note that such an arrangement is extremely unusual--the late day system is intended to allow students to accommodate disruptions from moderate illness without contacting the instructor.
• If the midterm is missed, its grades will be shifted to the final. This means the final will count for 80% of the final grade, and assignments will count for the remaining 20%.
• If the final is missed, a make-up final will be scheduled. This make-up final will be held as soon as possible after the regularly scheduled final.

Academic Conduct: Submitting the work of another person as your own (i.e. plagiarism) constitutes academic misconduct, as does communication with others (either as donor or recipient) in ways other than those permitted for homework and exams. Such actions will not be tolerated. Specifically, for this course, the rules are as follows:

• The written part of assignments is to be done alone. You may not, under any circumstances, submit any solution not written by yourself, look at another student's solution (this includes the solutions from assignments completed in the past), or previous sample solutions, and you may not share your own work with others. All work for this course is required to be new work and cannot be submitted as part of an assignment in another course without the approval of all instructors involved.
• You may, however, discuss your solutions and design decisions with your fellow students. In other words, you can talk about the assignments, but you cannot look at or copy other people's answers.
• The programming part of assignments is to be done either alone, or working with one other student. If you work with another student, each of you must hand in a copy of your work separately. You may not submit any solution not written by yourself and this one other student, look at other students' solutions (this includes the solutions from assignments completed in the past), or previous sample solutions, and you may not share your own work with others. All work for this course is required to be new work and cannot be submitted as part of an assignment in another course without the approval of all instructors involved.

Violations of these rules constitute very serious academic misconduct, and they are subject to penalties ranging from a grade of zero on the current and *all* the previous assignments to indefinite suspension from the University. More information on procedures and penalties can be found in the Department's Policy on Plagiarism and collaboration and in  UBC regulations on student discipline . If you are in any doubt about the interpretation of any of these rules, consult the instructor or a TA!

Readings: what to do

Textbook

Selected Chapters of Artificial Intelligence: foundations of computational agents by David Poole and Alan Mackworth, Cambridge University Press, 2010 - Complete book available online and possibly from Russell and Norvig's Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (third edition) [webpage]. I've arranged for a copy to be put on reserve in the CS reading room.. Although these texts will be our main reference for the class, it must be stressed that you will need to know all the material covered in class, whether or not it is included in the readings or available on-line.  Likewise, you are responsible for all the material in assigned readings, whether or not it is covered in class. 

Schedule

Here is where you can find the course schedule and the PPT and PDF files from lectures. These dates will change throughout the term, but this schedule will be kept up to date.  Assignment due dates are provided to give you a rough sense; however, they are also subject to change. I will try to always post the slides in advance (by 9am). After class, I will post the same slides inked with the notes I have added in class.