Now that we have a rough idea about what AI is, do you know how it came into existence?
It was a random Sunday afternoon and Mr Smith was taking a nap in his backyard. He had a dream where a robot was massaging his legs and talking to him simultaneously. He was having the time of his life, when suddenly his wife, Mrs Smith, woke him up and told him to bring groceries. Frustrated by the fact that his dream got disturbed and he had to drive to the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon gave him the motivation to design a machine that was able to do that task for him. He made a machine that was able to understand its environment with the help of cameras and sensors and was able to understand the orders given to it by its owner. He thought of it for a while and decided to name the machine an “AI robot”. And that is how AI came into existence.
Alright, I’m messing with you. There’s no Mr, Smith, no robot massaging his legs and no grocery urgencies. But how convenient would it have been if the above scenario was true?
AI was not a subject that came into existence through a single incident. If we look at it in-depth, the concept of AI has been evolving throughout the centuries. From being just a vague thought that came up in stories and plays written by people in the past to effortlessly defeating the world champion in chess, it has been a long journey for AI.
To understand where we stand in the field of AI right now, we need to understand what the subject of AI has gone through since it’s birth. It’s like archaeology — the study of the past of humanity to better understand and appreciate where we are in the present and where we will be in the future.
Let’s take a dive into the life of AI and see what has happened in the field up to this date.
Numerous mathematicians, philosophers, professors, authors and theologians speculated about mechanical techniques, calculating machines and intelligent systems that all pointed towards the concept of human intelligence in non-human beings (machines).
At this point in time, the subject of AI, or even a modern computer, was just a fragment of people’s imagination that was portrayed in the form of literature (plays, stories, novels, etc.). Jonathan Swift, the author of “Gulliver’s Travels”, mentioned a device called “the engine”, which according to Wikipedia, is one of the earliest references to modern technology — specifically a computer. According to Jonathan’s book, the engine had the ability to generate different combinations of words on its own. The concept of a machine being able to work in normal human language is just part of the reason why this “engine” can be considered to be artificially intelligent.
This is a visual depiction of what the engine looked like. I know it might seem like a pile of gibberish but it was one of the first pieces of literature that hinted at the idea of modern-day technology.
Samuel Butler, the author of the novel “Erewhon”, raised the possibility that at some indefinite point in the future machines would have the potential to attain consciousness and that eventually, machines might replace humans as the dominant species.
In my opinion, the pace at which we’re seeing developments in the field of AI, there might be a chance that Mr. Butler wasn’t wrong after all.
As the 1900s hit, humanity started approaching the actual concept of AI. The rate at which innovation in AI expanded was surprising.
Karel Čapek, a Czech playwright, released his science-fiction play named “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” The first recorded use of the word “robot” was in his play where he addressed the idea of man-made artificial beings as “robots”. From that moment forward, people adopted the idea of “robots” and applied it to their research, creations and discoveries.