INTELLIGENT°

adjective (Science and Technology) Of a machine: able to respond to different circumstances, developments, etc. or to 'learn' from past experience and apply this knowledge in new situations. Used especially of a computer or other electronic equipment: containing its own microprocessor, smart. Etymology: A transferred sense of intelligent, influenced by the term artificial intelligence (see AI); unlike the dumb machine which can only pass messages to and from a more powerful host and respond to specific instructions, the intelligent one can adjust its responses according to circumstance. History and Usage: The word has been used in computing since the late sixties, although Joseph Conrad had anticipated the concept as long ago as 1907 in his book The Secret Agent: I am trying to invent a detonator that would adjust itself to all conditions of action, and even to unexpected changes of conditions. A variable and yet perfectly precise mechanism. A really intelligent detonator. During the seventies and early eighties microelectronics began to be incorporated into a wide variety of consumer goods, bringing this concept of the intelligent machine into the public eye and giving the word a wide currency. Software systems can also be described as intelligent: an intelligent knowledge-based system (or IKBS) is similar to an expert system in that it stores the decision-making capability of human experts and can act on different data and developments on this basis, but it takes the principle of artificial intelligence one step further. The Japanese Fifth Generation computer project aimed at stimulating the development of the next generation of intelligent and powerful computer systems, has laid great emphasis on the importance of Intelligent Knowledge-based Systems (IKBS). Australian Personal Computer June 1985, p. 101 An intelligent masterkeyboard...allows control, via MIDI, of up to eight synthesizers in all registrations. Keyboard Player Apr. 1986, p. 27 Gerald Ratner suggests that intelligent tills will generate up to 30 p.c. more profit at the Salisburys shops he bought recently from Next. Daily Telegraph 6 Feb. 1989, p. 22 It is an 'intelligent' scanner in that it learns the shape of letters in the text, and can recognise up to ten different type faces per text. English Today July 1989, p. 49 See also active