7 Crucial Stage on the Development of AI and its Inventors

Introduction

Artificial intelligence or commonly known as AI is a term that is now in the lips of everybody across the world and across various industries. It is satisfying and enlightening to know about the history of AI, and more specifically, it is rather interesting to learn who contributed to the invention of the concept. The story of AI from conception to invention is swimming in ideas and inventions from innovative minds. During this post, seven critical innovations of the usage and development of Artificial Intelligence and their inventors will be discussed.

What are the Importance of the invention of AI?

AI is considered to be one of the greatest inventions of man, as it has tremendously transformed the world. They have impacted diverse fields, that include health, banking, transport, and entertainment among others. The features such as the handling of large amounts of data or following the patterns and making decisions, have made AI virtually limitless. Turning the pages of its history, one is able to learn more about the inspiring story of how AI came into existence and grew to the level that it is felt in today’s society.

1. Alan Turing and the Turing Test

One of the prominent pioneers of AI can be named a mathematician, Al Turing from Great Britain. In the year 1950, he put forward the idea of what is popularly called today as the Turing Test to solve the great question of whether a machine can give a passing performance in a manner indistinguishable from a human. That work can be said to have provided the theoretical base for today’s Artificial Intelligence and inspired the notion of developing devices that could learn and reason.

2. The Dartmouth Conference

The Dartmouth Conference held in 1956 by John McCarthy, aided by Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, can be considered as the beginning of AI as a subject. It also appeared that gathering of multitude of great minds for the purpose of debating and pondering over such a ‘thought-up’ concept as ‘thinking machines’ is where McCarthy created the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’.

3. John McCarthy was the founder of the articulation of artificial intelligence and Lisp Programming Language

The programming language Lisp, which is popular to this day, was created in 1958 by AI pioneer John McCarthy. Due to the flexibility of the language it provided, Lisp was adopted as the primary language of artificial intelligence organizations; it also provided an excellent foundation for both symbolic logic and recursion. The following are some of the great impacts McCarthy had that pushed the programming and development of AI forward.

4. Perceptron & Neural Networks

Frank Rosenblatt, in 1957, developed the Perceptron, which is a type of neural network model that could learn. At first, the Perceptron was not received well, but it was crucial in the development of today’s NN and deep learning. When examining Rosenblatt’s work, he pointed out one of the largest strengths of AI systems: the ability to learn.

5. Expert Systems and Edward Feigenbaum

In Expert Systems, we read about Edward Feigenbaum, especially in chapter 2, page 34, who was one of the early pioneers in the field of expert systems.

In the 1970s, Edward Feigenbaum and his colleague team, DENDRAL and MYCIN, developed an early expert system. They employed rule-based reasoning in order to solve chemical and medical-like problems. Feigenbaum was able to show that AI could be utilizable and could enhance human knowledge.

6. Machine Learning and Arthur Samuel

Arthur Samuel, a pioneer in machine learning, created one of the earliest self-learning programs in the 1950s. His checkers-playing program improved its performance through experience, showcasing the potential of machine learning algorithms. Samuel's work paved the way for AI systems that can adapt and evolve.

7. The Rise of Deep Learning

In recent years, deep learning has revolutionized AI, thanks to the contributions of researchers like Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio. Their work on neural networks and backpropagation algorithms has led to breakthroughs in image recognition, natural language processing, and more. Deep learning models have achieved unprecedented accuracy and capabilities, propelling AI to new heights.

Closing

The invention of AI is a story of innovation, collaboration, and relentless pursuit of knowledge. From Turing's theoretical foundations to the deep learning revolution, each milestone has brought us closer to realizing the full potential of AI. These pioneers' contributions have not only shaped the field but also opened doors to endless possibilities for the future.

Call-to-Action

Curious about the future of AI and its impact on various industries? Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates and insights into the world of artificial intelligence!