--- abstract: This article for the layman answers basic questions about artificial intelligence. altloc: [] chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: McCarthy given: John honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 1998-01 date_type: published datestamp: 1998-02-27 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/04/12 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 412 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_postscript.png;/412/2/whatisai.ps full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: ~ issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: ~ lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:53 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: ~ publisher: ~ refereed: FALSE referencetext: ~ relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 10 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:27:28 subjects: - comp-sci-art-intel succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: What is Artificial Intelligence? type: preprint userid: 110 volume: ~