From Myth to Revolutionary Technology – A Brief History of AI

Hamburg The creation of an artificial intelligence (AI) is a centuries-old dream. At least since antiquity, people have desired an analogue of themselves. Greek mythology knew a 30 meter tall humanoid named Talos who protected the island of Crete. In the Middle Ages, legends such as that of the golem, which at times resembled a man-machine molded from clay, anticipated the concept of a thinking object.

It only became concrete in the 20th century. The research pressure created by the world wars and the electronics revolution made machines possible that previously seemed hardly imaginable.

The history of AI, which spans the following decades, was mostly cyclical: phases of the boom alternated with sobering “AI winters” in which the field lacked support and money. Researchers like Marvin Minsky, who continued in just these phases, have often advanced their discipline furthest.

1940 to 1979: Turing test and artificial psychotherapists