What is "AI" (artificial intelligence)?
It's a question of definition, so first we need to define what "artificial intelligence" means.
- Most people think of "AI" as something that can "learn by itself". By that standard, all of today's leading strong engines are "AI", because they all have a "neural network".
- If you mean "learning while being used" (online learning), then no mainstream engine is "AI". Online learning is currently unsuitable for board-game engines and would only make them weaker. In fact it doesn't work well for any complex task, not just board-game engines but also the well-known large language models (LLMs).
- If you mean "truly human-like", then no such AI exists anywhere in the world today.
- If the definition is "the ability to perform tasks that require human intelligence", then every board-game engine can be called AI.
Also, "software" is not necessarily "AI", but "AI" is certainly "software".
In the Xiangqi community, people commonly say software, engine, or AI interchangeably. Pikafish is an engine, it is AI, and it is software.