The book is divided into eight parts. Part 1, "Artificial Intelligence," sets the stage for all the others,
and offers a view of the AI enterprise based around the idea of intelligent agents—systems that
can decide what to do and do it. Part II, "Problem Solving," concentrates on methods for deciding
what to do when one needs to think ahead several steps, for example in navigating across country
or playing chess. Part III, "Knowledge and Reasoning," discusses ways to represent knowledge
about the world—how it works, what it is currently like, what one's actions might do—and how
to reason logically with that knowledge. Part IV, "Acting Logically," then discusses how to
use these reasoning methods to decide what to do, particularly by constructing plans. Part V,
"Uncertain Knowledge and Reasoning," is analogous to Parts III and IV, but it concentrates on
reasoning and decision-making in the presence of uncertainty about the world, as might be faced,
for example, by a system for medical diagnosis and treatment.
