What is the History of Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Today we will discuss about the History of Artificial Intelligence. But for that we should know that what actually AI is?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a part of computer science that focuses on making systems that can think and solve problems like humans. These systems use a lot of data, process it, and learn from it to get better over time. Regular computer programs need people to fix problems, but AI can learn and improve on its own.

The History of Artificial Intelligence:

AI has been an idea or a concept since ancient times when philosophers pondered upon life and machines. Once upon a time, inventors created “automatons”, machines that were able to move without the help of humans. The term ‘automaton’ is from the Greek (transliterated) and literally means “self-willing acting”. Around 400 BCE a mechanical pigeon used to be one of many first automatons ever created.

However, for now let us concentrate on the 20th century when scientists and engineers made substantive progress in developing AI as we know it today.

Early AI: 1900-1950

In the early part of the last century, science fiction stories and plays began to feature tales about artificial humans which led someone in a lab somewhere to think “I wonder if we can make and download an artificial brain?” Some of the early robots which were powered by steam were able to make facial expressions and could even walk.

Significant Dates:

• 1921: Karel Čapek’s play “Rossum’s Universal Robots” was the occasion when the word “robot” was introduced.
• 1929: Makoto Nishimura was the first to build the first Japanese robot, Gakutensoku.
• 1949: Edmund Callis Berkley in hi book “Giant Brains”compared new computers to human brains.

Birth of AI: 1950-1956

Interest in AI really grew during this time. Alan Turing’s work led to the Turing Test, which measures computer intelligence. And then the term “artificial intelligence” became popular.

Important Dates:

• 1950: Alan Turing published “Computer Machinery and Intelligence” and suggested the Turing Test.
• 1952: Arthur Samuel developed a checkers-playing program that learned the game by itself.
• 1955: John McCarthy, at a Dartmouth workshop, used the term “artificial intelligence” .

AI Growth: 1957-1979

From the late 1950s to the 1970s, AI research grew rapidly. New programming languages were introduced, books and movies about the robots became popular. However, AI research faced numerous challenges, like reduced funding from the U.S. government and others.

Important Dates:

• 1958: John McCarthy created the programming language LISP.
• 1959: The term “machine learning” was coined by Arthur Samuel.
• 1961: The first industrial robot, Unimate, started working at General Motors.
• 1965: The First “Expert System”, the development of AI that could impersonate human decision-making for complex problems
• 1966: The first chatbot, ELIZA was developed by Joseph Weizenbaum.
• 1973: James Lighthill’s report led to reduced funding for AI research.
• 1979: The Stanford Cart navigated a room without human help.

AI Boom: 1980-1987

The 1980s saw a very swift growth in AI, with increased funding and breakthroughs in research. Deep Learning and Expert Systems became popular, allowing computers to learn from mistakes.

Significant Dates:

• 1980: The first AAAI conference was held.
• 1980: The first commercial expert system, XCON, was introduced.
• 1981: Japan invested heavily in the Fifth Generation Computer project.
• 1984: The AAAI warned of an upcoming “AI Winter.”
• 1986: The first driverless car was demonstrated.
• 1987: Alacrity, a strategy managerial advisory system, was launched.

AI Winter: 1987-1993

An “AI Winter” occurred due to decreased interest and funding in AI research. Many AI companies struggled, and research slowed down. The public interest in AI reduced significantly during this time.

Important Dates:

• 1987: The market for LISP-based hardware collapsed.
• 1988: Rollo Carpenter created the chatbot Jabberwacky.

AI Comeback: 1993-2011

Despite the AI Winter, the early 90s saw significant AI advances, like the first AI system beating a world chess champion and AI entering everyday life with products like the Roomba.

Significant Dates:

• 1997: Chess champion Gary Kasparov was beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue.
• 1997: Windows introduced speech recognition software.
• 2002: The first Roomba was released.
• 2006: Companies like Twitter and Facebook started using AI.
• 2011: IBM’s Watson won Jeopardy, and Apple released Siri.

Modern AI: 2012-Present

Recently, AI tools like virtual assistants and search engines have become common. Deep Learning and Big Data have also become popular.

Significant Dates:

• 2012: Google researchers trained a neural network to recognize cats.
• 2015: Elon Musk and others signed a letter against autonomous weapons.
• 2016: Sophia, a humanoid robot was created by Hanson Robotics.
• 2017: Facebook’s AI chatbots developed their own language.
• 2018: Alibaba’s AI beat humans on a reading test.
• 2020: OpenAI started testing GPT-3.
• 2021: OpenAI developed DALL-E, which creates captions for images.

What Does the Future Hold?

AI is expected to become further integrated into enterprises, reshape the labor force, and lead to more cases of robotics and autonomous vehicles. There is much that we cannot predict, but the future of AI certainly seems interesting!

If you enjoyed this article about the history of AI, and want to know more about the upcoming media trends in tech, gaming, sports & entertainment, be sure to check out my blogs on OnFrontMedia. I write about all the coolest things in technology that weirdly cross our paths, that you should not miss. Visit OnFrontMedia now for more information on the tech of tomorrow’s ways!

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