History of AI - What is AI? AI history and evolution

History of AI

Artificial intelligence from a historical perspective

Thinking machines and history

Already in Greek mythology, you can see that man has a need to "create Gods". This has been a way for us to process hopes, fears and ethical concerns. It was the ancient philosophers and mathematicians who helped us develop what we today call "formal intellect" or logical thinking and here we find part of the origin of what today is called data. The source that today can process ones (1s) and zeros (0s) in logical reasoning with the help of computers.

In the 1980s, AI research takes off in earnest and then the first commercial systems that can simulate knowledge and analytical ability are developed.

Then, when the Japanese fifth-generation computers arrived, this inspired American and British policy makers to fund research into AI at the academic level. Something that later paved the way for how the use of artificial intelligence increased, in the early 1990s and early 2000s. But mainly towards logistics, data extraction and medical diagnoses.

Some historical milestones

In 1997, the computer program Deep Blue had developed so much that it beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

In 2005, a robot was developed that autonomously drives 131 miles along a not-quite-straight path in the middle of the desert.

And in 2007, a car can drive independently 55 miles in an urban environment. The software in the car could itself detect dangers and follow applicable traffic rules.

But today the definition of AI has changed. OCR (optical character recognition) was seen as AI in 1956, but not today. Today, we see AI as an ability to learn something based on previous experiences.

Timeline on AI development