Elephants Don't Play Chess (1990) [pdf] (people.csail.mit.edu)

Rodney A. Brooks, a prominent figure in artificial intelligence and robotics, challenges traditional AI paradigms in his seminal paper "Elephants Don't Play Chess," arguing for a paradigm shift towards what he terms "nouvelle AI." This approach emphasizes the importance of situational awareness and physical interaction with the environment, rather than abstract symbol manipulation. Brooks critiques classical AI's reliance on the "symbol system hypothesis," proposing that intelligent systems should be built to engage with their physical surroundings directly, which allows for more robust and adaptable behavior. This shift in methodology is significant for the AI/ML community as it opens new avenues for developing intelligent systems that can adapt and respond to diverse conditions in real-time. Brooks highlights the limitations of traditional methods that depend on predefined symbolic representations, arguing that a system deeply rooted in physical reality avoids the pitfalls of ambiguity inherent in purely symbolic approaches. By focusing on behavior-generating modules and their interactions, rather than abstract reasoning, nouvelle AI may pave the way for more sophisticated and actionable AI systems, ultimately fostering advancements towards achieving human-level intelligence in a more grounded and practical manner.