What does the term "knowledge representation" refer to in AI?

The term "knowledge representation" in AI primarily refers to the way information and relationships are structured and stored. This concept is fundamental in artificial intelligence because it involves how knowledge about the world is encoded in a format that a computer system can utilize to solve complex tasks like reasoning, learning, and understanding language. Effective knowledge representation allows AI systems to manipulate information logically, draw inferences, and produce outputs based on the stored knowledge.

The quality of knowledge representation impacts an AI system's ability to perform effectively across various applications, such as natural language processing, expert systems, and robotics. By organizing knowledge into structures like semantic networks, ontologies, or frames, AI can better understand relationships and concepts, facilitating tasks ranging from answering questions to generating solutions based on given data.