Prof. John Kontos is an Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Athens with over five decades of distinguished contributions to Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham, and completed his Postdoctoral studies at the Athens Technical University. He has served as Director of the Computer Science Department at the Research Centre "Demokritos," President of the Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Society, and Professor of Artificial Intelligence at leading Greek universities. Prof. Kontos has led 8 funded research projects, authored 120+ scientific publications, and received prestigious honors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Strathclyde Alumni and the Award of Academic Excellence in AI from the British Computer Society.  

The definition of Artificial Intelligence based on a relational approach   A relational approach is proposed for avoiding the hard problem of AI systems definition. It is based on the idea that AI systems are not a class different from Information Processing systems (IPSs) but that AI must refer to the relation with respect to intelligence between different IPSs. This idea presupposes that all IPSs possess intelligence of different levels. By that it is not meant that IPSs can be placed in a simple order with respect to intelligence, but that they are placed in a semi order or lattice structure where certain IPSs may not be directly comparable and placed in a linear order with respect to their intelligence. Biological Intelligence above a certain level such as Natural Language Processing and Arithmetic Processing is observed only in members of the Homo Sapiens and distinguishes them from the rest of living beings. Simple information processing like feedback for instance is not an exclusively human process. It is normally difficult or even impossible to compare IPSs of different kinds such as Artificial Neural Net Systems, Logic Gate Systems, Natural Language Processing Systems and Explanation Generating Systems. Hence a practitioner of AI is a researcher, or developer who tries to design and/or implement a system with more intelligence than existing IPSs that solve the same problem.