Further Reading
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History
The history of A.I. goes back to antiquity. This list of articles touches on a few selected highlights.
The Turing Test
A landmark paper in the early study of artificial intelligence. Designed by Alan Turing, it was meant to test if a machine had achieved actual intelligence.
ELIZA
One of the earliest and most significant examples of a chatbot, ELIZA was developed from 1964 to 1967 at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum.
- The ELIZA effect: a tendency to project human traits — such as experience, semantic comprehension or empathy — onto rudimentary computer programs having a textual interface
- Chat with ELIZA
A.I. Defeats a Chess Grandmaster
In 1997, Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a world champion in Chess.
Technology
The technologies involved in artificial intelligence are interesting and varied. Generally, when people say "A.I." in 2025, they are referring to generative A.I.. Almost always, these tools are built on large language models or involve some form of deep learning.
- Essential Terminology
- A.I. Learns to play Super Mario World
- This is made possible by Reinforcement Learning: one subset of ML
- A.I. Agents
Computer Brains
A.I. systems often closely resemble humans in their ability to communicate. Neural networks serve as the basis for deep learning, which powers most A.I. tools today.
- Cognitive Revolution: psychology inspired by computers, inspiring computers inspired by psychology
- Complete map of a Fruit Fly brain
Philosophy
There are several fascinating areas of thought surrounding artificial intelligence.
Can a machine understand anything?
Chinese room thought experiment
Can a machine actually experience anything?
What constitutes "true" A.I.?
Can a machine achieve human-level intelligence?
Artificial general intelligence