What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.
John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."

It is the attempt to make computers perform "intelligent" tasks such as recognising different objects in pictures or designing the arial for a NASA robot...things like that.
This includes things like genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, agent based systems, and many other fields.

An example in everyday life would be the bots on games.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), a term that in its broadest sense would indicate the ability of an artifact to perform the same kinds of functions that characterize human thought.
AI has been applied to computer systems and programs capable of performing tasks more complex than straightforward programming, although still far from the realm of actual thought.

Blend of rigorous programming and complex hardware

Artificial intelligence is basically when a computer is able to do tasks, menial or not, that is normally reserved for human intelligence. Thats the actual definition of it, but there are two types of artificial intelligence. Weak Ai and Strong Ai. Weak Ai is when a computer is able to ACT intelligent. An example of this would be A.L.I.C.E. because although it responds to your questions, all of these answers were programmed. ( http://alice.pandorabots.com/ ) Strong Ai is when they really ARE intelligent. (Intelligent being: learning, problem-solving, reasoning, and the ability to understand language) Unfortunately strong Ai hasn't really been invented yet.

you give an equation that has a unknown; it knows the rules and work out what would be the unknown; like in GPS. the formular the all of the possible roads the answer is the destination; the rule is maybe the quickest route and the unknown is the route and it works it out

AI is technology that is incorporated into a nonhuman form but has a basic understanding of a human and has the ability to learn and conform to oher human behavior