This is the first in a series describing the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence. Check back to find more posts.

When asked about the meaning of life, digital physics pioneer Edward Fredkin responded, “I think our mission is to create artificial intelligence. It’s the next step in evolution” (Wright 80). Artificial intelligence, defined by Princeton’s Wordnet is, “the branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively” (“Princeton University,” par. 1). Fredkin apparently thinks that artificial intelligence is in our future, but what about our past and present? The general concept of making sentient machines has been around for thousands of years, and studying it reflects on who we are as sentient beings. The short, yet paradoxically long, history of artificial intelligence, or AI, can be divided into three main parts: artificial intelligence before the electromagnetic computer, the birth of artificial intelligence (officially 1956), and more recent developments in the field.

First, due to relatively undeveloped technology in the field of computing for most of human history, concepts in artificial intelligence were generally first found in literature and folk tales. In the AI Magazine article, “A (Very) Brief History of Artificial Intelligence,” Bruce G. Buchanan writes “Philosophers have floated the possibility of intelligent machines as a literary device to help us define what it means to be human” (53). One literary example is Mary Shelley’s original story of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. The story illustrates a fictional form of artificial intelligence. The creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein displays a variety of sentient—even human—behavior. For example, the monster feels misery and even requests that his creator build him a soul mate (McCorduck 20). In addition, there were a variety of literary works that included the concept of intelligent machines. Jean-Paul Richter’s obscure story, “The Death of an Angel,” inspired E.T.A. Hoffman’s, “The Sandman,” the latter being a story with robotic female characters. Hoffman’s work also inspired other individuals (15). The concepts of artificial intelligence have been around for hundreds of years before the field received its name.

But regardless of how primitive the technology was before the modern computing age, there was at least one notable attempt to create a machine that theoretically could achieve intelligence. For example, the Analytical Engine was a machine thought of by Charles Babbage in the nineteenth century. The idea behind the Engine was that it could be programmed to solve any possible logical or computational problem, possibly even including those that would give the machine sentience. Unfortunately, due to the state of technology at the time, Babbage failed to complete an implementation of the machine (Kurzweil 165-6). Of course, not all of the academic attempts that would have brought society closer to intelligent creations were actual machines. Approximately at the same time as Babbage, mathematician George Boole was attempting to figure out the governing rules of thought, and to express thought in symbols. Boole’s laws of thought eventually contributed to the rise of the modern computer (Gardner 142-3). Before Boole was the scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. During the late 1600′s and early 1700′s, he theorized about creating an algebra of thought, which he described as a calculus ratiocinator. Scientists would be able to clearly and rationally communicate with each other, and theoretically communicate with calculating machines too. Hundreds of years later, modern artificial intelligence researchers were interested by the problems that Leibniz worked on (McCorduck 33). Scientists have always been attempting to make the field of artificial intelligence jump from a fantasy to a reality. Therefore, there have been many very serious scientific attempts to get closer to an artificial intelligence, but only very recently have researchers have had much luck.

In the next section of this series, the history of artificial intelligence will get more spicy as the invention of the modern computer will be covered.

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