Artificial intelligence (AI) aims to develop systems that behave like humans through techniques like natural language processing, robotics, computer vision, and expert systems. Expert systems capture knowledge as rules or networks to diagnose issues like medical conditions, while neural networks mimic the human brain through interconnected nodes that can learn from examples without being explicitly programmed. Overall, AI research involves developing systems that can match or exceed human capabilities in complex, unrestricted domains using methods like search, learning, reasoning, and self-correction.