My earliest work with artificial intelligence was at Texas Christian University. It focused on computer-based pattern recognition, especially the Vargus-7 program, which could generate test patterns with controlled variability.

Natural language understanding

A major focus was natural language understanding, for example through Robert Simmons’s natural language research. My dissertation research included development of a computer-based question answering system, called Chronos.

That area of work continued while I was at Rutgers, developing programs for medical diagnosis. This included the Believer system, which had knowledge of social actions and their impact on language generation and understanding.

Later, I worked on the BBN speech understanding system, with various theoretical projects on discourse, social actions, belief systems, and language generation, and on applications to education.

Applications and implications

I also studied the implications of AI, for example, as a model of reading comprehension, and its direct use in education, such as with the Kurzweil Music Education Terminal.

As my work developed, I moved away from AI per se. This was largely because of new interests, but also because the field began to shift towards big data, which I found less intriguing as a topic for research.

Most recently, I’ve considered philosophical and social issues of AI as in the video below.

Bruce, Bertram C. (2021, February 18). Intelligence, artificial & natural, for a sustainable future. Kathmandu, Nepal: Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies.

References

Starr, Kathleen, & Bruce, Bertram C. (1984, February). Educational software for the Kurzweil Music Education Terminal (BBN Report No. 5747). Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1982, March). HWIM: A computer model of reading (Technical Report No. 236). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1981). Conversing with HWIM. Cognition and Brain Theory, 4, 123-138.

Brown, Geoffrey; Bruce, Bertram C.; & Trigoboff, Michael (1975, December). The CHRONOS natural language understanding system (Report No. CBM-TR-30). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Cook, Craig, Bruce, Bertram C., & Gould, Laura (1975, October). Audio response generation. In W. Woods, M. Bates, G. Brown, B. Bruce, C. Cook, L. Gould, J. Klovstad, J. Makhoul, Bonnie L. Nash-Webber, R. Schwartz, J. Wolf, & V. Zue, Speech understanding systems: Quarterly technical progress report 4 (BBN Report No. 3188). Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman.

Bates, L., & Bruce, Bertram C. (1975, July). Time expressions. In W. Woods, R. Schwartz, C. Cook, J. Klovstad, L. Bates, Bonnie L. Nash-Webber, B. Bruce, & J. Makhoul, Speech understanding systems: Quarterly technical progress report 3 (BBN Report No. 3115). Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman.

Bruce, Bertram C., & Harris, G. (1975, July). Procedural semantics in the travel system. In W. Woods, R. Schwartz, C. Cook, J. Klovstad, L. Bates, Bonnie L. Nash-Webber, B. Speech understanding systems: Quarterly technical progress report 3 (BBN Report No. 3115). Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1975, April). Retrieval from a semantic network. In W. Woods, R. Schwartz, C. Cook, D. Klatt, J. Wolf, L. Bates, Bonnie L. Nash-Webber, B. Bruce, & J. Makhoul, Speech understanding systems: Quarterly technical progress report 2 (BBN Report No. 3080). Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1974, October). Pragmatics: User and task model. In W. Woods, M. Bates, B. Bruce, J. Colarusso, C. Cook, L. Gould, D. Grabel, J. Makhoul, Bonnie L. Nash-Webber, R. Schwartz, & J. Wolf, Natural communication with computers: Final report, Volume I, speech understanding research at BBN (BBN Report No. 2976). Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman.

Bruce, Bertram C., & Moscowitz, J. (1974, August). CHRONOS user’s manual (Report No. CBM-TM-26). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C., & Schmidt, C. F. (1974, July ). Episode understanding and belief guided parsing (Report No. CBM-TR-32). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Trigoboff, M., & Bruce, Bertram C. (1973, December). Independent process control in a parser for natural language (Report No. CBM-TM-36). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Fehling, M., & Bruce, Bertram C. (1973, December). SCHEMER: A system for learning by reflection (Report No. CBM-TM-37). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1973, September). The processing of time phrases in CHRONOS (Report No. CBM-TM-29). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1973, July). On the organization of event memories (Report No. CBM-TM-25). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1973, May). A protocol of a search for a solution to the Ising enumeration problem (Report No. CBM-TR-15) New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1972). Representation and processing of sequences of events (Report No. CBM-TR-4). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C., & Singer, N. (1972). CHRONOS II: The processing of incompletely specified data (Report No. CBM-TR-9). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Simmons, Robert F., & Bruce, Bertram C. (1971). Some relations between predicate calculus and semantic net representations of discourse. In D. C. Cooper (Ed.), Proceedings of the Second International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence(IjCAI, London) (pp. 524-530). London: The British Computer Society.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1968, August). Production and control of visual pattern variability by computer (Report No. WP-7). Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University, Institute for the Study of Cognitive Systems.

AI programs

Bruce, Bertram C. (1976). Language generation component of HWIM (Hear What I Mean) [Computer program]. Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Speech Understanding Research Group.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1976). Pragmatics component of HWIM (Hear What I Mean) [Computer program]. Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Speech Understanding Research Group.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1976). The Travel Budget Manager’s Assistant [Computer program]. Cambridge, MA: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Speech Understanding Research Group.

Brown, G., Schmidt, C. F., & Bruce, Bertram C. (1974). Believer [Computer program]. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1974). Chronos II [Computer program]. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Computer Science Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1971). Chronos I [Computer program]. Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, Computer Sciences Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1971). Semantic net representations of discourse for generative CAI [Computer program]. Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, Computer Sciences Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1971). Resolution theorem prover [Computer program]. Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, Computer Sciences Department.

Bruce, Bertram C. (1968). Vargus-7 [Computer program]. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University, Institute for the Study of Cognitive Systems.