Episode 7 — Search and Problem Solving in AI

Episode 7 — Search and Problem Solving in AI

Author: Jason Edwards September 10, 2025 Duration: 25:20

Before machine learning took center stage, AI was already grappling with how to solve problems systematically. This episode dives into search and problem solving, two of the earliest and still fundamental approaches to intelligence. You’ll learn how problems are represented as states and transitions, and how uninformed search strategies like breadth-first and depth-first explore possibilities blindly. We’ll then move to informed searches, where heuristics act as shortcuts, guiding algorithms like A* to efficient solutions.

Beyond simple puzzles, we show how these methods apply in real-world settings. Constraint satisfaction problems, optimization tasks, and adversarial search in games demonstrate the versatility of these approaches. We also look at evolutionary algorithms and local search strategies that mimic biological or incremental processes. Applications in robotics, operations research, and planning illustrate why search remains central even in today’s AI. By the end, you’ll recognize search not as a relic, but as a foundation underpinning many techniques you’ll see throughout this course. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber prepcasts, books, and information to strengthen your certification path.


Jason Edwards hosts Certified-Introduction to AI Audio Course, an educational series crafted for anyone curious about how artificial intelligence actually works. This isn't a collection of abstract lectures or speculative futurism; it's a structured, audio-first curriculum that builds a practical foundation. You'll find a clear path through the core concepts that make machines learn, reason, and make decisions, moving from fundamental principles to their tangible effects in the world. The approach is deliberate and cumulative-every episode connects to the next, ensuring that whether you're a student, a working professional, or considering a new career direction, you're never left behind. The content demystifies the terminology and the technology, focusing on comprehension over hype. By engaging with this podcast, you participate in a logical progression designed to build genuine competency. The discussions prioritize clarity and real-world context, exploring both the potential and the current limitations of AI systems. It’s a focused auditory learning experience for those who prefer to learn by listening and who want a substantive, organized introduction to a defining technology of our time. The entire series serves as a comprehensive audio guide, meeting you at your current level of knowledge and systematically expanding it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 49

Certified - Introduction to AI Audio Course
Podcast Episodes
Episode 9 — Logic and Reasoning Systems [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:47
Reasoning has always been at the heart of intelligence, and in this episode we focus on how AI systems use logic to derive conclusions. Starting with propositional and predicate logic, we’ll explain how knowledge can be…
Episode 8 — Knowledge Representation — How Machines Store Facts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:24
For AI to reason, it needs to store and organize information. This episode explores knowledge representation, the frameworks that allow machines to capture facts, relationships, and rules. From semantic networks linking…
Episode 6 — Data — The Fuel of AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:38
No matter how advanced the algorithm, it can’t run without data. This episode focuses on why data is considered the fuel of AI, exploring the different types that drive training and performance. Structured data, such as…
Episode 3 — A Brief History of AI — From Turing to Transformers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:55
Artificial Intelligence didn’t appear overnight; it has a story stretching back more than seven decades. In this episode, we step into that story, beginning with Alan Turing’s famous question — can machines think? — and…
Episode 2 — Course Roadmap — How to Learn AI in Audio Form [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:00
This PrepCast is designed to teach Artificial Intelligence in a way that fits into real life: no slides, no diagrams, no heavy math on the page — just clear explanations you can absorb anywhere. In this roadmap episode,…
Episode 1 — Orientation — What is Artificial Intelligence? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:26
Artificial Intelligence is a term everyone has heard, but few understand in depth. In this opening episode, we cut through the hype and get to the core: what does it actually mean when we say a system is “intelligent”? Y…