An Introduction to Symbolic Artificial Intelligence Applied to Multimedia

In this chapter, we give an introduction to symbolic artificial intelligence (AI) and discuss its relation and application to multimedia. We begin by defining what symbolic AI is, what distinguishes it from non-symbolic approaches, such as machine learning, and how it can used in the construction of advanced multimedia applications. We then introduce description logic (DL) and use it to discuss symbolic representation and reasoning. DL is the logical underpinning of OWL, the most successful family of ontology languages. After discussing DL, we present OWL and related Semantic Web technologies, such as RDF and SPARQL. We conclude the chapter by discussing a hybrid model for multimedia representation, called Hyperknowledge. Throughout the text, we make references to technologies and extensions specifically designed to solve the kinds of problems that arise in multimedia representation.