A quick overview of Artificial Intelligence (AI).


 AI has been studied for decades and is still one of the vaguest subjects in Computer Science. This partly due to how large and fuzzy the subject is. AI ranges from machines that can think by itself, to search algorithms that are used to play board games. It has applications in nearly anything in our daily lives. 

The term artificial intelligence was first coined by American mathematician and computer scientist John McCarthy in 1956 when he held the first academic conference on the subject. Though the term didn’t exist, the concept had been recognized much before. In American electrical engineer Vannevar Bush’s seminal work, he introduced a system which amplifies people’s own knowledge and understanding. Five years later (1950) English Mathematician Alan Turing published a paper entitled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” which opened the doors to the field that would be called AI. In this paper, he proposes to consider the question “Can machines think?” and argues that there is no convincing argument that machines cannot think intelligently like humans, and different approaches can be taken in hopes of developing machine intelligence.


The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2009, 23). 

John McCarthy | American mathematician and computer scientist. Encyclopedia Britannica. 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-McCarthy


Dennis, M. (2000, February). 

Vannevar Bush - Disillusionment. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vannevar-Bush/Disillusionment

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