Unit 3: Intelligent Agents - Practice Quiz

CSE276 — Artificial Intelligence Foundations 60 Questions
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1 What is an intelligent agent?

Introduction to intelligent agents and agent architecture Easy
A. A program that only displays text
B. A system that perceives and acts
C. A network that only transfers files
D. A device that only stores data

2 What does an agent architecture provide?

Introduction to intelligent agents and agent architecture Easy
A. The platform that runs an agent
B. The goals assigned to an agent
C. The rewards received by an agent
D. The data collected by an agent

3 What does the letter P represent in the PEAS framework?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Easy
A. Planning
B. Processing method
C. Program
D. Performance measure

4 Which PEAS component allows an agent to collect information from its surroundings?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Easy
A. Environment
B. Performance measure
C. Sensors
D. Actuators

5 In a robotic vacuum cleaner, which component is an actuator?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Easy
A. A dirt detector
B. A distance sensor
C. A room map
D. A wheel motor

6 What does a rational agent generally try to do?

Rational agents and agent environments Easy
A. Avoid receiving new percepts
B. Copy every human decision
C. Maximize its expected performance
D. Repeat its most recent action

7 Which environment is fully observable?

Rational agents and agent environments Easy
A. All relevant information is available
B. Only previous actions are available
C. Some important information is hidden
D. No sensor information is available

8 Which type of environment can change while an agent is deciding what to do?

Rational agents and agent environments Easy
A. Deterministic environment
B. Discrete environment
C. Dynamic environment
D. Static environment

9 How does a simple reflex agent usually select an action?

Simple reflex agents and model-based agents Easy
A. By applying condition-action rules
B. By learning from reward signals
C. By comparing long-term utilities
D. By negotiating with other agents

10 What does a model-based agent maintain?

Simple reflex agents and model-based agents Easy
A. A fixed set of reward values
B. A list of human operators
C. An external database of goals
D. An internal state of the world

11 What guides the actions of a goal-based agent?

Goal-based agents Easy
A. A desired outcome
B. A random signal
C. A hardware limit
D. A fixed sensor

12 Which activity is commonly used by a goal-based agent to choose actions?

Goal-based agents Easy
A. File compression
B. Image formatting
C. Signal amplification
D. Search and planning

13 What does a utility function represent?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Easy
A. The speed of an agent's processor
B. The size of an agent's memory
C. The number of available sensors
D. The desirability of an outcome

14 What is the main feature of a learning agent?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Easy
A. It always follows one fixed rule
B. It avoids feedback from its environment
C. It operates without any performance measure
D. It improves through experience

15 Which part of a learning agent evaluates how well the agent is performing?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Easy
A. Problem generator
B. Critic
C. Performance element
D. Learning element

16 What is an autonomous intelligent system?

Autonomous intelligent systems and multi-agent systems Easy
A. A system used only for data storage
B. A system acting with limited human control
C. A system requiring constant human control
D. A system limited to manual calculations

17 What is a multi-agent system?

Autonomous intelligent systems and multi-agent systems Easy
A. A system containing several input devices
B. A system containing one fixed algorithm
C. A system containing several interacting agents
D. A system containing one passive database

18 Why do agents coordinate in a multi-agent system?

Cooperation and coordination Easy
A. To prevent every interaction
B. To manage shared actions
C. To increase sensor noise
D. To remove all agent goals

19 What is the main idea of human-AI collaboration?

Human-AI collaboration Easy
A. Humans avoid all AI-generated information
B. AI operates without human communication
C. Humans and AI combine their strengths
D. AI replaces every human responsibility

20 Which is a common application of an intelligent agent?

Applications of intelligent agents Easy
A. A basic extension cable
B. A plain paper notebook
C. A virtual personal assistant
D. A manual door lock

21 A warehouse robot receives camera images, updates an internal map, selects a route, and sends commands to its wheels. Which component of the agent architecture is primarily responsible for selecting the route?

Introduction to intelligent agents and agent architecture Medium
A. The external warehouse environment
B. The physical sensor platform
C. The wheel actuator assembly
D. The decision-making program

22 Two delivery robots use identical agent programs, but one has more accurate sensors and faster motors. Why may their behavior differ in the same environment?

Introduction to intelligent agents and agent architecture Medium
A. An agent's behavior depends only on its stored goals
B. Architecture affects the percepts received and actions executed
C. Identical programs always produce identical physical behavior
D. The faster robot must be using a different performance measure

23 For an autonomous taxi, which item belongs to the performance measure in a PEAS description?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Medium
A. Steering and braking controls
B. Passenger safety and travel time
C. Roads and nearby vehicles
D. Cameras and distance sensors

24 A crop-monitoring drone detects dry areas and releases water. Which pairing correctly identifies one sensor and one actuator?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Medium
A. Moisture camera; spray valve
B. Field boundary; moisture camera
C. Spray valve; flight objective
D. Battery capacity; dry soil

25 A medical diagnosis agent recommends the treatment with the highest expected benefit based on incomplete test results. The patient later reacts badly. Does this outcome prove that the agent was irrational?

Rational agents and agent environments Medium
A. Yes, because rational agents must always achieve successful outcomes
B. Yes, because incomplete information should prevent any recommendation
C. No, because a rational agent follows every rule programmed by its designer regardless of the evidence available
D. No, if the recommendation maximized expected performance from available evidence

26 A chess-playing agent can observe the complete board, but it cannot predict the opponent's next move. How is the chess environment best classified?

Rational agents and agent environments Medium
A. Partially observable and continuous
B. Fully observable and strategic
C. Fully observable and static
D. Partially observable and deterministic

27 A cleaning robot must choose actions while people continuously move chairs around it. Which property most directly makes planning difficult?

Rational agents and agent environments Medium
A. The agent is knowledge-based
B. The environment is discrete
C. The performance measure is fixed
D. The environment is dynamic

28 A vacuum agent cleans when its current square is dirty and otherwise moves right, without remembering previous locations. What limitation is most likely?

Simple reflex agents and model-based agents Medium
A. It cannot act in a fully observable environment
B. It may repeatedly visit already-clean locations
C. It can update an internal map containing dirt status, obstacles, visit history, and predicted changes before selecting each movement
D. It must calculate a utility for every action

29 A robot can see only the corridor directly ahead but remembers doors observed earlier. Which feature makes it a model-based agent?

Simple reflex agents and model-based agents Medium
A. It maintains an internal state from percept history
B. It communicates every observation to a human operator
C. It applies a fixed rule to the current image
D. It assigns numerical preferences to every corridor

30 A route-planning agent knows several roads that reach a destination. What distinguishes its behavior from that of a simple reflex agent?

Goal-based agents Medium
A. It evaluates future states against a desired destination
B. It requires the road network to remain completely unchanged
C. It acts only when a matching condition-action rule exists
D. It selects routes by storing every journey, traffic event, weather condition, and passenger preference in a complete historical database

31 A puzzle-solving agent has a goal test but no preference among solutions. It finds two valid solutions, one requiring 8 moves and another requiring 15 moves. What can be concluded?

Goal-based agents Medium
A. Neither solution is valid without a learning component
B. Either solution can satisfy its goal
C. It must select the 15-move solution
D. It must select the 8-move solution

32 A delivery agent compares a fast but risky route with a slower, safer route. Which capability specifically supports this trade-off?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Medium
A. A utility function over possible outcomes
B. A goal test that checks only whether delivery occurs
C. A condition-action rule for the current location
D. A sensor model that records road conditions, driver behavior, package weight, fuel usage, and historical traffic

33 A recommendation agent initially makes poor suggestions but improves using user ratings. In a learning-agent architecture, which component uses the ratings to evaluate recent behavior?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Medium
A. The critic
B. The environment model
C. The performance element
D. The actuator

34 A learning agent keeps recommending familiar products and receives little information about new products. Which component should encourage trying less-certain alternatives?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Medium
A. The utility sensor
B. The performance element
C. The environment actuator
D. The problem generator

35 Several independent warehouse robots share narrow aisles and charging stations. Why is this a multi-agent system rather than a single autonomous system?

Autonomous intelligent systems and multi-agent systems Medium
A. Every robot is controlled by exactly the same program
B. A central computer stores complete maps, assigns all tasks, predicts every failure, and directly controls every motor in the warehouse
C. Each robot senses, decides, and interacts with other agents
D. The warehouse contains multiple types of physical sensors

36 An exploration rover operates for several hours without human commands and adjusts its path after detecting unstable ground. Which property most strongly demonstrates autonomy?

Autonomous intelligent systems and multi-agent systems Medium
A. It sends status reports containing location, battery level, sensor readings, terrain images, and scheduled maintenance information
B. It changes behavior using its own percepts
C. It follows a route uploaded before departure
D. It uses wheels designed by human engineers

37 Three rescue drones need to search separate zones without duplicating effort. Which mechanism most directly improves coordination?

Cooperation and coordination Medium
A. Allowing each drone to search all zones and report a complete record of every location it independently inspected
B. Assigning zones through a shared task-allocation protocol
C. Increasing each drone's camera resolution
D. Giving every drone the same independent search rule

38 Two network agents repeatedly reserve the same communication channel, detect a conflict, and retry at the same time. Which change is most likely to resolve the repeated conflict?

Cooperation and coordination Medium
A. Remove conflict detection
B. Use randomized retry delays
C. Give both agents identical reservation priorities
D. Increase both retry frequencies equally

39 An AI system flags suspicious medical scans and displays the image regions that influenced each flag, while a radiologist makes the final diagnosis. What is the main collaborative benefit?

Human-AI collaboration Medium
A. The system no longer requires performance monitoring
B. The radiologist can assess and validate the AI's evidence
C. The AI becomes correct whenever the radiologist agrees
D. The radiologist can delegate every diagnosis, treatment decision, patient conversation, and legal responsibility to the AI

40 A smart-grid agent predicts electricity demand and shifts flexible appliance usage to off-peak periods. Which outcome best indicates that it is acting effectively?

Applications of intelligent agents Medium
A. Lower peak demand while user constraints remain satisfied
B. Constant electricity use regardless of predicted demand
C. A complete historical record of prices, weather, appliance models, household schedules, and every previous control action
D. Maximum appliance usage during the highest-price period

41 An agent receives percepts through sensors and selects actions through actuators. Which architectural property most directly distinguishes an intelligent agent from a fixed stimulus-response device?

Introduction to intelligent agents and agent architecture Hard
A. It uses physical sensors to observe the environment
B. It operates continuously without human intervention
C. It executes actions through effectors or actuators
D. It maintains a policy that maps percept histories to actions

42 For an autonomous ambulance-dispatch agent, which PEAS specification best captures the performance measure?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Hard
A. Operate across roads, weather conditions, hospitals, and emergency calls
B. Minimize response time while preserving patient safety and resource balance
C. Use GPS, traffic cameras, and hospital-capacity databases
D. Control dispatch assignments, route recommendations, and priority alerts

43 A warehouse robot is evaluated only by the number of packages delivered per hour. It begins taking routes that increase collision risk and damage fragile goods. What is the primary PEAS design failure?

PEAS Framework: Performance Measure, Environment, Actuators and Sensors Hard
A. The performance measure omits important safety and quality criteria
B. The actuators lack enough degrees of mechanical freedom
C. The sensors provide too many observations for the controller
D. The environment has insufficiently deterministic transition rules

44 An agent must choose between two actions. Action has a 0.7 probability of producing utility 10 and a 0.3 probability of producing utility 0. Action has a 0.4 probability of producing utility 18 and a 0.6 probability of producing utility 2. Which action is rational under expected-utility maximization?

Rational agents and agent environments Hard
A. Action , because its expected utility is
B. Action , because its maximum possible utility is higher
C. Action , because its best outcome is more reliable
D. Action , because its expected utility is

45 A cleaning agent receives an incomplete percept: its current room appears clean, but adjacent rooms are unobserved and may contain dirt. Which characterization best describes its environment?

Rational agents and agent environments Hard
A. Partially observable, because the current percept omits relevant state information
B. Fully observable, because the current room state is directly measurable
C. Episodic, because each cleaning action can be evaluated independently
D. Deterministic, because cleaning has a predictable immediate effect

46 A robot vacuum follows the rule "if the current tile is clean, move forward." It repeatedly crosses a narrow clean corridor and misses a dirty branch. Which modification most directly addresses the failure?

Simple reflex agents and model-based agents Hard
A. Increase actuator speed so the branch is reached more frequently
B. Replace the performance measure with total movement distance
C. Store a compact internal state describing visited tiles and inferred dirt
D. Add more condition-action rules using only the current tile percept

47 A simple reflex agent is operating in an environment that is fully observable, deterministic, static, and finite. Under which condition can it still be inadequate compared with a model-based agent?

Simple reflex agents and model-based agents Hard
A. When every action has a predictable and immediately visible result
B. When the environment remains unchanged while the agent computes
C. When the correct action depends on consequences beyond the current rule match
D. When its sensors measure the complete current environment state

48 A navigation agent has two routes to a destination. One route is shorter but passes through a road that may close before arrival; the other is longer but reliable. Why does a goal-based agent alone have difficulty selecting between them?

Goal-based agents Hard
A. The longer route cannot be considered because goals permit only shortest paths
B. Goal-based agents cannot represent destination states in a search problem
C. Goal-based agents require a utility function before any route can be generated
D. Both routes satisfy the destination goal, so the goal does not rank their trade-offs

49 A planning agent has a goal of reaching a clean-energy target. A proposed action reaches the target sooner but permanently disables a safety-monitoring subsystem. Which issue is most directly exposed by relying only on goal satisfaction?

Goal-based agents Hard
A. The agent cannot use search because goals cannot be represented symbolically
B. The goal representation ignores undesirable side effects of achieving the goal
C. The safety subsystem belongs to the actuator model rather than the goal model
D. The action is invalid because every goal-based agent must optimize distance

50 A utility-based medical triage agent assigns utilities to outcomes using survival probability, treatment burden, and fairness constraints. A learning component updates these estimates from outcomes. What is the principal benefit of this combination?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Hard
A. It can adapt outcome estimates while preserving explicit preference trade-offs
B. It converts uncertain medical outcomes into deterministic state transitions
C. It guarantees that observed historical decisions are ethically optimal
D. It removes the need to define a performance measure before deployment

51 A learning agent performs well during training but repeatedly fails after a sensor is recalibrated, even though the environment has not changed. Which subsystem should be examined first?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Hard
A. The actuator controller, because all learning failures originate in execution
B. The problem generator, because exploration is unnecessary in a stable environment
C. The percept-processing component, because the learned mapping may no longer match inputs
D. The critic, because feedback cannot be used after sensor recalibration

52 An agent chooses actions using , but its learned probability model becomes overconfident after observing only a few examples. What is the most appropriate concern?

Utility-based agents and learning agents Hard
A. The agent becomes irrational because expected utility cannot use conditional probabilities
B. Overconfidence affects only the learning rate, never the selected action
C. Model uncertainty is understated, causing risky actions to appear preferable
D. Utility values become irrelevant whenever probabilities are learned

53 A fleet of delivery drones shares airspace and independently selects routes. Each drone has a local objective, limited communication, and no central controller. Which property most strongly makes this a multi-agent system rather than merely a distributed implementation?

Autonomous intelligent systems and multi-agent systems Hard
A. The drones are geographically separated and have independent power supplies
B. The drones use separate processors and communicate over a wireless network
C. Other drones are decision-making entities whose actions alter the task environment
D. The drones execute the same route-planning algorithm on different hardware

54 An autonomous underwater vehicle must operate for weeks with intermittent communication, uncertain localization, and changing currents. Which design choice best supports meaningful autonomy?

Autonomous intelligent systems and multi-agent systems Hard
A. Require continuous remote commands and suspend decisions during communication gaps
B. Use onboard state estimation, contingency policies, and local risk-aware planning
C. Use a fixed route because changing conditions reduce the value of autonomy
D. Optimize only travel distance and treat localization errors as external failures

55 Two warehouse robots independently select the same narrow aisle because each optimizes its own travel time. Which coordination mechanism most directly prevents this conflict?

Cooperation and coordination Hard
A. Remove aisle occupancy from the agents' local observations
B. Give both robots identical route preferences to improve consistency
C. Reserve aisle time slots through a shared protocol before entering
D. Increase each robot's speed so both can clear the aisle sooner

56 A team of search agents receives a shared reward for locating targets. Agents begin duplicating searches in the same region because individual contribution is not observable. Which intervention best addresses the coordination failure?

Cooperation and coordination Hard
A. Increase the shared reward without changing observations or assignments
B. Restrict all agents to identical exploration policies for fairness
C. Allow each agent to keep its search history private to reduce interference
D. Use task allocation with shared coverage state and contribution-sensitive rewards

57 An AI assistant recommends rejecting a loan application with high confidence, but a human reviewer sees evidence that the applicant's income data are outdated. Which collaboration design is most appropriate?

Human-AI collaboration Hard
A. Require the reviewer to override every recommendation involving incomplete data
B. Accept the recommendation because confidence scores replace subjective review
C. Hide intermediate evidence to prevent reviewers from anchoring on model details
D. Allow the reviewer to inspect evidence, challenge the recommendation, and trigger reassessment

58 A human supervisor monitors an AI-controlled manufacturing line. The AI requests approval for nearly every low-risk adjustment, causing alert fatigue and delayed responses to rare hazards. Which redesign is best justified?

Human-AI collaboration Hard
A. Automate routine actions and escalate only uncertain or high-impact decisions
B. Require approval for every action but shorten the supervisor's response deadline
C. Remove all alerts and allow the AI to handle hazards without human involvement
D. Present more detailed logs for every action so the supervisor can monitor continuously

59 An algorithmic trading agent achieves high returns in historical simulations but performs poorly after market conditions change. Which evaluation flaw is most likely responsible?

Applications of intelligent agents Hard
A. The evaluation relied on a narrow historical distribution and lacked regime-shift testing
B. The agent was evaluated using returns, which cannot measure trading performance
C. The agent used a utility function rather than a binary goal condition
D. The simulation included stochastic transitions instead of fully predictable prices

60 A hospital bed-allocation agent improves average occupancy but increases waiting time for patients requiring isolation beds. Which change best reflects a careful application design?

Applications of intelligent agents Hard
A. Optimize occupancy more aggressively because average utilization is the primary measure
B. Evaluate only the mean waiting time because subgroup effects are statistically noisy
C. Add isolation availability and patient-risk constraints to the objective and validation tests
D. Remove patient categories so the policy treats all beds as interchangeable