During the last decade parallel technologies have completely transformed main stream computing. The majority of standard PC ́s today incorporate multi-processor chips, with up to four processors. This number will reach eight and more processors soon. The flexibility that parallel systems constructed with commodity components offer, make them easy to link through wide area networks, such as the Internet, to realize Grids or Clouds.

The topics cover a broad spectrum of subjects in the field of AI: learning and classification, ontologies and the semantic web, agent programming and planning, logic and reasoning, economic approaches, games, dialogue systems, user preferences and recommender systems. Offering an opportunity to glimpse the current work of the AI researchers of the future, this book will be of interest to anyone whose work involves the use of artificial intelligence and intelligent systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is of central importance to contemporary computer science and informatics. Techniques, results and concepts developed under the banner of AI research have not only benefited applications as diverse as medicine and industrial systems applications, but are of fundamental importance in areas such as economics, philosophy, linguistics, psychology and logical analysis.