Artificial intelligence is all around us, from the assistants on our phones to the algorithms behind our favorite streaming platforms. Although it seems like a recent breakthrough, the ideas behind AI have been evolving for centuries. The path from early mechanical inventions to today’s advanced systems shows how creative and determined people have been over time.
Learning about AI’s history helps us see where it is now and where it might go next. From early 20th-century theories to today’s fast progress, each period has shaped the technology changing our world. This guide highlights the main milestones in AI’s development.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence is a part of computer science that aims to build systems able to do tasks that usually need human intelligence. These tasks include learning, reasoning, solving problems, and understanding language. AI systems look at large amounts of data, find patterns, and adjust how they work to get better over time, often on their own.
The Long History of Artificial Intelligence
The idea of making artificial beings has been around for a long time. Ancient myths and legends tell stories about automatons, which are mechanical creations made to move and act by themselves. The word "automaton" comes from ancient Greek and means "acting of one's own will." As early as 400 BCE, there are records of a mechanical pigeon built by a friend of Plato. (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, n.d.) Later, around 1495, Leonardo da Vinci designed a well-known automaton: a mechanical knight that could move like a person. (Automaton, n.d.)
These early inventions inspired people’s imaginations. The modern history of AI began in the 20th century, when scientists and engineers started making these old dreams real.
The Groundwork for AI (1900-1950)
The early 20th century was a time when many ideas that led to AI took shape. Science fiction stories about artificial humans made scientists wonder if it was possible to build an artificial brain. The word "robot" first appeared in 1921 in a Czech play called "Rossum's Universal Robots," which showed artificial workers. (First public reference to robots, n.d.)
During this period, early inventorAt this time, inventors made mechanical figures, sometimes powered by steam, that could do simple things like walk or change their facial expressions. These inventions set the stage for the more advanced machines that came later. Japanese professor Makoto Nishimura built Gakutensoku, the first robot from Japan. (Gakutensoku, n.d.)
- 1949: Computer scientist Edmund Callis Berkley published "Giant Brains, or Machines that Think," one of the first works to compare modern computers to the human brain. (Berkeley & C., 1949)
The Birth of AI (1950-1956)
The 1950s were when artificial intelligence officially became a field of study. Pioneering thinkers set the basic ideas for machine intelligence. Alan Turing, a well-known mathematician, suggested a way to test if a machine could show intelligent behavior. This became known as the Turing Test.
During this time, the first program that could learn by itself was created. In 1955, at a Dartmouth College workshop, John McCarthy officially introduced the term "artificial intelligence," giving this new field its name.
Key dates from this era:
- 1950: Alan Turing published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," introducing his famous "Imitation Game."
- 1952: Arthur Samuel, a computer scientist, developed a checkers-playing program that was the first to learn how to play a game independently. (Checkers (video game), 1952)
- 1955: John McCarthy organized the Dartmouth workshop on "artificial intelligence," establishing the term and its academic focus.
The Maturation of AI (1957-1979)
After AI became an official field, it grew quickly. Researchers created new programming languages, such as LISP, which is still used in AI today. The idea of "machine learning" also started, showing how computers could be trained to do better than their human creators.
AI started to be used in real-world situations. Unimate, the first industrial robot, worked on a General Motors assembly line, doing jobs that were too risky for people. ELIZA, the first chatbot, showed how computers could simulate conversation. But there were challenges too. In the 1970s, government funding for AI dropped because progress was slower than expected.
Key dates from this era:
- 1958: John McCarthy created LISP, the first programming language designed for AI research. (McCarthy & John, 1960)
- 1961: Unimate, the first industrial robot, began work at a General Motors plant. (1961: A peep into the automated future, 1961)
- 1966: Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA, the first chatbot, which simulated a psychotherapist. (Joseph Weizenbaum, n.d.)
- 1968: Soviet mathematician Alexey Ivakhnenko published work that laid the groundwork for what we now call "deep learning." (Ivakhnenko & A.G., 1968, pp. 7-17)
- 1979: The Stanford Cart, an early autonomous vehicle, successfully navigated a room full of chairs without human help. (Stanford’s robotics legacy, 1979)
The AI Boom (1980-1987)
In the 1980s, interest and funding for AI grew again, starting the "AI boom." Advances in deep learning and the use of "expert systems"—AI programs that copy human decision-making—helped this growth. These systems let computers learn from experience and make their own choices, which was useful for businesses. For example, XCON, the first commercial expert system, helped companies set up computer systems for their customers automatically.
Governments worldwide, especially in Japan, invested a lot in AI. Their goal was to build computers that could think and talk like people.
Key dates from this era:
- 1980: XCON became the first commercially successful expert system.
- 1981: The Japanese government launched the Fifth Generation Computer project with an $850 million investment to advance AI. (U.S. Urged to Aid Development of New Generation of Computers, 1983)
- 1986: Ernst Dickmann's team at Bundeswehr University of Munich demonstrated the first driverless car, reaching speeds of up to 55 mph on empty roads. (Autonomes Auto: Deutscher erfand es in der 80er-Jahren, 1986)
The AI Winter (1987-1993)
After the boom, AI entered a time called the "AI winter." Interest from both the public and private sectors dropped because expensive research did not deliver the results people hoped for. Problems with special AI hardware and fewer expert systems being used led to less funding. This period showed the difference between what AI promised and what it could actually do then.
Key dates from this era:
- 1987: The market for specialized LISP-based hardware collapsed as cheaper, more accessible competitors emerged. (This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – The market for specialised AI hardware collapsed in 1987, n.d.)
- 1988: Programmer Rollo Carpenter developed the chatbot Jabberwacky, designed to hold interesting conversations with humans. (Jabberwacky, 1997)
The Rise of AI Agents (1993-2011)
Despite the funding challenges of the AI winter, the 1990s and 2Even though funding was low during the AI winter, the 1990s and 2000s brought big progress. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue chess computer beat world champion Garry Kasparov. This event got worldwide attention and showed that AI could do some tasks better than humans. The Roomba vacuum cleaner was released, and speech recognition software became a standard feature on Windows computers. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix began using AI to power their recommendation and advertising algorithms. The period culminated with Apple's release of Siri, the first widely adopted virtual assistant.
Key dates from this era:
- 1997: IBM's Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov. (Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in a chess match, 1997)
- 2002: The first Roomba robotic vacuum was released. (Roomba, 2002)
- 2003: NASA's rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, navigated the surface of Mars without human intervention. (Maimone et al., 2004, pp. 2845-2856)
- 2011: Apple released Siri, bringing virtual assistants into the mainstream. (Golson & Jordan, 2011)
- 2011: IBM's Watson, a question-answering computer, won the game show Jeopardy! Against two former champions. (Watson, ‘Jeopardy!’ champion, 2011)
The Era of Artificial General Intelligence (2012-Present)
Today, we live in a time when powerful AI tools, deep learning, and big data are common. Neural networks have become very advanced. In 2012, Google researchers trained a network to spot cats in pictures without labels, which was a big step for machine vision. (Le et al., 2012)
Now, AI is a bigger part of our lives than ever. Humanoid robots like Sophia look realistic and can talk and show emotions. AI models such as GPT-3 and DALL-E can write text that sounds human and make images from simple descriptions, expanding what’s possible with creativity.
Key dates from this era:
- 2016: Hanson Robotics created Sophia, the first "robot citizen" with a lifelike appearance. (Sophia - Hanson Robotics, 2016)
- 2017: Two AI chatbots developed by Facebook created their own language to negotiate more efficiently. (The secret language of chatbots, 2017)
- 2020: OpenAI began testing GPT-3, a model that can produce code, poetry, and other text that is nearly indistinguishable from human writing. (OpenAI, 2020)
- 2021: OpenAI developed DALL-E, an AI that can generate images from text descriptions, bridging the gap between language and visual understanding. (DALL·E: Creating Images from Text, 2021)
What Does the Future Hold?
The history of AI shows how curious and determined people are to make progress. Looking ahead, AI will become an even bigger part of our daily and work lives. More businesses will use AI, which will change the workforce by creating new jobs and changing old ones. We are close to big advances in robotics, self-driving cars, and personalized medicine, all thanks to AI.
The story of AI is still unfolding. By learning about its past, we can better shape its future and use its power to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems.