Artificial intelligence implications for information retrieval

Overall, the field of information retrieval is already more aware than many other fields of the relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) [1-6]. Nonetheless there remain exciting applications of artificial intelligence that have been so far overlooked. In this paper we will point out some of the ways artificial intelligence might influence the field of information retrieval. We will then examine one application in more detail to discover the kind of technical problems involved in its fruitful exploitation.Before proceeding, it is important to interject a note of caution. While the promise of artificial intelligence is indeed bright, the time of complete fulfillment of its promise is a long way off. Of course, some of the expected contributions are shorter term than others. However, the more difficult problems will fall only after a good deal of basic research is accomplished. Artificial intelligence researchers have, in the past, been culpable of what can most charitably be described as over-optimism [7,8]. This naivete on the part of even the most respected of researchers stemmed from the profound subtleties underlying intelligent behavior. The problem is compounded by the fact that some of the most difficult of intelligent behavior (i.e. common sense) seems intuitively easy.