Introduction

John McCarthy, an American cognitive and computer scientist, defines Artificial Intelligence as  “It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence.” Artificial intelligence is one of the fastest developing technologies and has already made a mark in different areas and sectors ranging from finance to healthcare to our everyday lives. We live and experience Artificial Intelligence daily. Life as we know it, would be very different as compared to the kind we live today if AI technologies did not exist.Artificial Intelligence, it’s applications and technologies will foresee a huge advancement in the future.

However, many believe Artificial Intelligence to a concept of the modern ages not knowing that the idea and thoughts behind AI can be dated back to the 1600’s.

The term artificial intelligence has gained a lot of attention and popularity over time. However, in recent years the frequency with which the term has been used not only by the experts in the field but by the general public has significantly increased. The reason being, the kind of impact it leaves us with in our daily lives. We are surrounded by technology and our dependence on it is far more than we think it is. Can we imagine a day where one does not use Google Maps to check how far the destination is, the train timings or directions for that matter. That’s the kind of impact and dependence Artificial Intelligence has left us behind with. Mccarthy and Wright , co-authors of the book “ Technology As Experience ”, argue about the thought “ We don’t just use technology, we live with it.” 

This led me to build a timeline so as to understand the history of Artificial Intelligence and help visualize the milestones in the field with help of a timeline.

Materials

In order to build a timeline, Knight Lab’s TimelineJS application was used. The software helped in generating a graphic timeline from the data entered in the Google spreadsheet. TimelineJS followed a methodical procedure in order for the timeline to be curated. At first, data had to be entered in the spreadsheet which formed the data set. Specific to this report, thirteen data points were used. These were chosen on the basis of their significance in the field of Artificial Intelligence , how it was a milestone in the respected field and whether or not it can be perceived as a breakthrough. All of the data was compiled and put together in the spreadsheet , as seen below. Mark of importance here is the year as AI as a concept is perceived as new. A brief description of the milestone is provided alongside the image so as to make the reader understand the relevance of the event in history.

Procedure

When I got introduced to Turing Machine, the concept intrigued me and from then on I became curious about how Alan Turing cracked the Enigma and the history behind it. I realized that it intersected with Artificial Intelligence and thus, I began my readings about the matter. To my surprise as well, AI dates further back than one would have thought andimagined to leading me to research and build upon my interest.

The nature of research was mainly secondary. Qualitative research was conducted with an emphasis on articles; scholarly or otherwise, blog posts, news or the kind that seemed relevant to the topic here. The structure that was followed to approach this task was aimed to build history about the field of Artificial Intelligence and cover the important milestones. The events were picked out in a manner that it is an integral account in history, for instance,  conference of Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence (DSRPAI), although the conference was seen as inclusive and ambiguous, there were few ideas which laid out the foundations of artificial intelligence for the next 50 years. 

Results

A deeper understanding about history and evolution of Artificial Intelligence is achieved after viewing the timeline. Presenting the milestones visually helps the reader understand the significant events that have occurred historically allowing them to help differentiate from one breakthrough to another. It also provides a perspective as to how far along did the advancements reach chronologically. As seen in the timeline , a lot of concepts, theories and thought models were formed in the 1940s and 50s. More implementations and executions were seen towards the end of 1990s.

Reflection

Considering the fact that Artificial intelligence in a field in itself is broad and now combining it with it’s history, evolution and milestone provides the reader with extensive information. TimelineJS was helpful in articulating and putting together the data and producing it to the reader briefly without requring them to have prior knowledge on subject matter. The help of visualizations and presenting it as a timeline helps encapsulate considerable amounts of information. It also helps in capturing the reader’s attention due to it’s interactive nature. 

However, only a limited number of data points can be provided as data sets. Beyond this, the reader might lose interest and aimlessly gaze through information. With topics as broad as Artificial Intelligence, it certainly can get tricky to categorize and put forth the relevant information. This may lead to subjectivity on subject matter within the hands of the author of the timeline. Due to its limitations, TimelineJS hence provides an overview or a brief description of the topic which could possibly result in categorizing information through process of elimination.

As for the future scope, I woud like to cover a few breakthroughs in detail and present in a manner such that it is more intercative to the user gives the author the flexibility to stylize accordingly.

References

Marr, B. (2021, July 13). The most significant AI milestones so far. Bernard Marr. Retrieved February 5, 2022, from https://bernardmarr.com/the-most-significant-ai-milestones-so-far/

Milestones in artificial intelligence. ThinkAutomation. (2020, March 9). Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.thinkautomation.com/histories/milestones-in-artificial-intelligence/ 

Press, G. (2021, May 19). 114 milestones in the history of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Forbes. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2021/05/19/114-milestones-in-the-history-of-artificial-intelligence-ai/?sh=32584e0274bf 

Rockwell , A. (2020, April 23). The history of Artificial Intelligence. Science in the News. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/history-artificial-intelligence/ 

Lewis, K. (2014, June 18). Bletchley Park: No longer the world’s Best kept secret. BBC News. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-27808962 

Karakas, F. (2020, August 27). What you need to know about GPT-3 and why it matters. Medium. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://medium.com/predict/what-you-need-to-know-about-gpt-3-and-why-it-matters-4878215b78e8