AI for Little Explores (Classes 3,4, & 5)

History of AI

1940s - 1950sEarly Concepts and Foundations

Imagining Artificial Intelligence

1943: Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts publish a paper on neural networks, laying the groundwork for AI by proposing a model of artificial neurons.
1950: Alan Turing introduces the Turing Test in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," suggesting a criterion of intelligence for machines.

1956Birth of AI as a Field

AI was coined

John McCarthy coins the term "Artificial Intelligence" at the Dartmouth Conference, marking the official birth of AI as a distinct field of study. The conference brings together key figures like Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell, and Herbert A. Simon

1960sEarly AI Programs and Optimism

Robots are introduced

1961: Unimate, the first industrial robot, is introduced and used in General Motors' assembly line.
1965: Joseph Weizenbaum creates ELIZA, an early natural language processing program that simulates conversation, demonstrating the potential for human-computer interaction.
1966: The Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee (ALPAC) report concludes that machine translation is impractical, leading to reduced funding for AI research in the US.

1970sThe First AI Winter

Reduced Funding

1970s: AI research faces a period of reduced funding and interest due to unmet expectations and the realization of the complexity of AI problems, leading to what is known as the "AI Winter."