Curated timeline

AI History

From theoretical concepts and early logic machines to neural networks, expert systems, and the generative AI boom. The quest to create intelligent machines.

• Frankenstein Published (January 1, 1818)

  Mary Shelley publishes 'Frankenstein', first major literary work exploring artificial life and consciousness.

• R.U.R. Play Introduces 'Robot' (January 25, 1921)

  Karel Čapek's play 'R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)' introduces the word 'robot' to the world.

• Metropolis Film Released (January 10, 1927)

  Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' features iconic robot Maria, defining AI imagery in popular culture.

• Turing Machine Concept (May 28, 1936)

  Alan Turing publishes 'On Computable Numbers', introducing the theoretical Turing machine.

• Three Laws of Robotics (March 1, 1942)

  Isaac Asimov formulates the Three Laws of Robotics in 'Runaround', establishing ethical framework for AI.

• Neural Network Foundation (December 1, 1943)

  McCulloch and Pitts publish 'A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity', founding neural networks.

• Cybernetics Published (1948)

  Norbert Wiener publishes 'Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine'.

• Turing Test Proposed (October 1, 1950)

  Alan Turing publishes 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence', proposing the Turing Test for machine intelligence.

• First AI Program (1951)

  Christopher Strachey writes first AI program - a checkers-playing program for the Ferranti Mark 1.

• Machine Learning Term Coined (1959)

  Arthur Samuel coins the term 'machine learning' while developing checkers-playing programs at IBM.

• Dartmouth AI Conference (June 18, 1956)

  Dartmouth Summer Research Project officially coins 'artificial intelligence' and establishes the field.

• Perceptron Developed (1957)

  Frank Rosenblatt develops the Perceptron, first neural network model for pattern recognition.

• LISP Programming Language (1958)

  John McCarthy develops LISP, which becomes the dominant programming language for AI research.

• First Industrial Robot (1961)

  Unimate, the first industrial robot, begins operation at General Motors assembly line.

• ELIZA Chatbot (1966)

  Joseph Weizenbaum creates ELIZA, first chatbot that demonstrates human-computer conversation.

• HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (April 3, 1968)

  Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' introduces HAL 9000, defining AI in popular consciousness.

• Shakey the Robot (1970)

  Shakey, first mobile robot with AI reasoning capabilities, developed at SRI International.

• First AI Winter Begins (1974)

  Funding cuts and reduced interest in AI research begin first 'AI Winter' period lasting until 1980.

• MYCIN Expert System (1976)

  MYCIN expert system developed at Stanford for medical diagnosis, pioneering knowledge-based AI.

• Backpropagation Algorithm (October 9, 1986)

  Hinton, Rumelhart, and Williams publish backpropagation algorithm, revolutionizing neural network training.

• The Terminator Released (October 26, 1984)

  James Cameron's 'The Terminator' introduces Skynet and popularizes AI as existential threat.

• Deep Blue Defeats Kasparov (May 11, 1997)

  IBM's Deep Blue becomes first computer to defeat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a match.

• Google Founded (September 4, 1998)

  Larry Page and Sergey Brin found Google with PageRank algorithm, applying AI to web search.

• The Matrix Released (March 31, 1999)

  The Wachowski sisters' 'The Matrix' explores themes of simulated reality and AI control over humanity.

• DARPA Grand Challenge (March 13, 2004)

  First DARPA Grand Challenge for autonomous vehicles spurs development of self-driving car technology.

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