2.2 Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a rich history that stretches back further than many realize. Imagine the mid-20th century: computers were room-sized behemoths, and the idea of machines that could think like humans was the stuff of science fiction. Yet, in 1950, a visionary named Alan Turing, often heralded as the father of AI, proposed a revolutionary idea in his paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Turing introduced the concept of machines simulating human intelligence, sparking curiosity and debate.

Just a few years later, in 1956, a group of forward-thinkers gathered at the Dartmouth Conference, a historic meeting where the term artificial intelligence was coined. Among these pioneers were John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon. These early AI researchers dreamt of creating machines that could learn and reason like humans.

However, the journey of AI has been anything but smooth. There have been periods known as AI winters, where progress stalled and funding dried up due to unmet expectations and technical challenges. Despite these setbacks, the field saw resurgence, thanks to relentless innovators and breakthroughs in technology. Today, AI stands as a testament to decades of perseverance, evolving through various phases to become an integral part of our modern world.