by Admin | Feb 19, 2021 | Chronicles, News
This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – in 1967 Marvin Minsky was quoted saying, “Within a generation … the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence’ will substantially be solved.”
Similar to H. A. Simon’s writings from the same era, Minsky’s prediction was stated in his work in the 60s, after the bloom of AI development in the advent of the Dartmouth Conference. Optimism was running high, and advocates and academics for AI envisioned a romantic vision of what it could be. However, his prediction did not come to fruition, as AI development suffered stagnations and the like, most notably the first AI Winter, whose beginnings ironically was contributed to by Minsky himself.
Marvin Minksy was an important pioneer in the field of AI. He penned the research proposal for the Dartmouth Conference, which coined the term “Artificial Intelligence”, and he was a participant in it when it was hosted the next summer. Minsky would also co-founded the MIT AI labs, which went through different names, and the MIT Media Laboratory. In terms of popular culture, he was an adviser to Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He won the Turing Award for his impact on AI in 1969.
As with Herbert Simon, this quote was an event in the history of AI due to its display of the sentiments of optimism of the time. Furthermore, Marvin Minsky was one, if not the, most important figure in the development of Artificial Intelligence. His predictions about AI during its rise in the 60s are still discussed about to this day.
by Admin | Feb 12, 2021 | Chronicles, News
This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – IBM “Watson” machine defeats 2 human Jeopardy! champions. The machine went on the show on February 16th, 2011 and faced off against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, previous winners of the famous game-show.
The show was taped in Janaury of 2011 but was not aired until February of the same year. Instead of a regular episode, this showdown was played out over three parts, concluding on February 16th. It was filmed at one of IBM’s research lab. More than just a publicity and PR display, it was a vindication of the progress Artificial Intelligence has made in the past decades.
“Watson” is a question-answering computer system, developed by IBM as a part of their DeepQA project. David Ferrucci, an American biologist and computer scientist, headed the development of Watson as principle investigator with a research team. Watson is named after IBM’s founder and first leader, Thomas J. Watson. After its success on Jeopardy, Watson was first utilised in helping lung cancer treatment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
The New York Times covered this event on its website. The article can be read here. A clip of Watson’s victory can be viewed here.
The HAI initative considers this an important development in the history of AI due to its publicity and notability as the culmination of a research project in artificial intelligence.
by Admin | Feb 5, 2021 | Chronicles, News
This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – H. A. Simon was quoted with a prediction, “machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do” in the 1960s. He wrote this in his “The New Science of Management Decision”
Herbert Simon was an American economist, political scientist, and cognitive scientist. In addition to Logic Theorist, he was known for research into decision-making in organisations and theories of bound rationality and satisficing. He worked at Carnegie Mellon University for the majority of his career. Simon received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978, and the Turing Award in 1975 for contributions to AI, human cognition, and list processing.
His prediction was stated in his work in the 60s, after the bloom of AI development in the advent of the Dartmouth Conference. Optimism was running high, and advocates and academics for AI envisioned a romantic vision of what it could be. However, his prediction did not come to fruition, as AI development suffered stagnations and the like.
This quote was an event in the history of AI due to its display of the sentiments of optimism of the time. Herbert Simon is also a notable found father of AI. His quotation is still deliberated about to this day
by Admin | Jan 29, 2021 | Chronicles, News
This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – Unimate, an industrial robot developed in the 50s, becomes the first to work in New Jersey in 1961.
Unimate was invented by George Davol, who filed the patent in 1954. Davol met Joseph Engelberger in 1956, and the two paired up to found Unimation, the first robot manufacturing company. Davol and Engelberger promoted Unimate at The Tonight Show. Engelberger then exported industrial robotics to outside the US as well.
The Unimate worked at a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in New Jersey. The robot transported die castings from asssembly lines and welded parts on autos. It did this job because it was considered dangerous for human workers, due workplace hazards such as toxic fumes. The robot had the appearance of a box connected to an arm, with systematic tasks stored in a drum memory.
Although this machine was not directly connected to Artificial Intelligence, it was a precursor to developments in that field. By implementing a robot that can do tasks, this project was taking the first steps towards AI. Thus, the HAI initiatve considers this a milestone in the History of AI
by Admin | Jan 22, 2021 | Chronicles, News
This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – Waseda University built WABOT-2 in 1984. A follow up to the WABOT-1 they built in 1973, this robot was also anthropomorphic, but improvements were made.
The WABOT-2 was a follow-up to the WABOT-1 project. This iteration can now play music of average difficulty on an electronic organ. It was now able to converse with another person as well. In addition, it now has a camera for its head. A contrast with WABOT-1 is that WABOT-2 is considered a “specialist robot” instead of a “versatile robot”.
After the success of WABOT-1 in 1973, Waseda University picked the project back up in 1980. The project developed by a study group at the School of Science & Engineering. The goal of this project was to create an anthropomorphic robot that could perform intelligent tasks such as performing music. Thus, WABOT-2 became more specialised, rather than the versatility of WABOT-1
Similar to the WABOT-1, WABOT-2 was mainly a robotic project. Still, the WABOT-2 helped develop AI in improving the WABOT’s ability to conversate. The HAI initiative considers this an event, as with the first one, in the History of AI due to its contributions to the development of AI.
by Admin | Jan 15, 2021 | Chronicles, News
This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – Waseda University built WABOT-1 in 1973. It was the first full-scale anthropomorphic robot, with a climb-control system, a vision system, and a conversation system.
The WABOT-1 was the first of its kind. It was able to communicate with a person in Japanese, as well as measure distance and direction. WABOT (WAseda roBOT) was able to walk and grab objects. It had the mental faculty of a one-and-a-half-year-old child. The robot had the WAM-4 for its hands, and the WL-5 for its legs.
The WABOT project was initiatived at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan in 1967. Development did not fully start until 1970, and was not finished until 1973. The project was under the direction of Ichiro Kato at the School of Science & Engineering. In the 80s, Waseda University would reiterate its works on WABOT-1 with a new robot, the WABOT-2.
While the WABOT-1 was a mainly robotic project, its conversation system creates for it an important connection to the field of AI. The HAI initiative considers this an event in the History of AI due to its contributions to the development of AI.
