The key assumption of this lecture is that the concept of artificial intelligence is inseparably linked to the economic concept of rationality of agents. We consider different classes of decision problems - decisions under certainty, risk and uncertainty - from an economic, managerial and AI-engineering perspective:

From an economic point of view, we analyze how to act rationally in these situations based on classic utility theory. In this regard, the course also introduces the relevant parts of decision theory for dealing with

• multiple conflicting objectives,
• incomplete, risky and uncertain information about the world,
• assessing utility functions, and
• quantifying the value of information ...

From an engineering perspective, we discuss how to develop practical solutions for these decision problems, using appropriate AI components. We introduce

• a general, agent-based design framework for AI systems,

as well as AI methods from the fields of

• search (for decisions under certainty),
• inference (for decions under risk) and
• learning (for decisions under uncertainty).

Where applicable, the course highlights the theoretical ties of these methods with decision theory.

We conclude with a discussion of ethical and philosophical issues concerning the development and use of AI.

Learning objectives

Students are able to design, analyze, implement, and evaluate intelligent agents.

Lecture Outline

1. Introduction: Artificial intelligence and the economic concept of rationality
2. Intelligent Agents: A general, agent-based design framework for AI systems
3. Decision under certainty: Assessing utility functions for decisions with multiple objectives
4. Search: Linear programming for decisions under certainty
5. Decisions under risk: The expected utility principle
6. Information systems: Improving economic decisions under risk
7. Inference: Bayesian networks for decisions under risk
8. Learning: Bayesian Networks (Basics)
9. Learning: Bayesian Networks (Algorithms I)
10. Learning: Bayesian Networks (Algorithms II)

Note: This rough outline may be subject to change.

Bamberg, Coenenberg & Krapp (2019). Betriebswirtschaftliche Entscheidungslehre (16th ed.). Verlag Franz Vahlen GmbH.

Fishburn (1988). Nonlinear preference and utility theory. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Keeney & Raiffa (1993). Decisions with multiple objectives: preferences and value trade-offs. Cambridge University Press.

Nickel, S., Stein, O., & Waldmann, K.-H. (2014). Operations Research (2nd ed.). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Russell & Norvig (2016). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (3rd Global Edition). Pearson.

Koller, D., & Friedman, N. (2009). Probabilistic graphical models: principles and techniques. MIT Press.

Sutton & Barto (2018). Reinforcement learning: An introduction. Cambridge: MIT press.