Mumbai University > Computer Engineering > Sem 7 > Artificial Intelligence

Marks: 8 & 10 Marks

Year: Dec 2015, May 2016

A learning agent can be divided into four conceptual components which are the basic building blocks of Learning Agent

1. Performance element is responsible for selecting external actions.

   The performance element takes in percepts and decides on actions

2. Learning element is responsible for making improvements.

   The learning element uses feedback from the critic on how the agent is doing and determines how the performance element should be modified to do better in the future. The design of the learning element depends very much on the design of the performance element.

3. Critic tells the learning element how well the agent is doing with respect to a fixed performance standard. The critic is necessary because the percepts themselves provide no indication of the agent's success. For example, a chess program could receive a percept indicating that it has checkmated its opponent, but it needs a performance standard to know that this is a good thing; the percept itself does not say so. It is important that the performance standard be fixed. Conceptually, one should think of it as being outside the agent altogether, because the agent must not modify it to fit its own behaviour

Problem generator is responsible for suggesting actions that will lead to new and informative experiences. The point is that if the performance element had its way, it would keep doing the actions that are best, given what it knows. But if the agent is willing to explore a little, and do some perhaps suboptimal actions in the short run, it might discover much better actions for the long run. The problem generator's job is to suggest these exploratory actions.