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Over the past century, innovation in technology has reformed the world. Be it the discovery of the computer by Charles Babbage, or the invention of the internet, the world of technology has leaped towards the new era of the technological epoch. The incredible relationship between the human mind and machines has been able to successfully innovate technology that eases human life. And despite the challenges associated with technology, it has been acknowledged, welcomed, and applauded by humans. It is undoubtedly, an established truth that as the new technologies continued to expand, human beings became inquisitive about their practices. The equation of the human mind, magic, and machine thus contributes a platform that has the potential to transform societies.
One such technology that has made humans spring forward and into the inception of the technological spin is the discovery of artificial intelligence. This mysterious technology expanse for building smart machines, with human intelligence, capable of performing tasks without human intervention. With its computing, automation, and machine learning power an exponential utilization of this technology has been witnessed in all the industries. AI can be said to be the wrecking ball, that has transformed every industry with the automation and sheer power it possesses. But like any other technology, the origin of AI was the 'trial and error' method, with equal contributions of failures and successes. That's why it becomes imperative to understand the origin of artificial intelligence so that its current and future implications can be analyzed.
In the following chapter, we will explore the evolution of AI in the past centuries.
The need for a machine with the human skillset for performing tasks was recognized back in 1769. A Hungarian Engineer and inventor Wolf von Kempelen invented the machine that automated the chess player. Named as 'The Mechanical Turk', or the 'Automation Chess Player', the machine demonstrated the capabilities of automation which have the potential to defeat even the strongest opponents. The infrastructure of the machine consisted of a human being with a head, arm, and torso. The automation was adorned with ottoman robes, a turban, and the machine's left arm holding a pipe and right arm resting on top of the cabinet, which had the chessboard. With the help of an operator, the mechanical Turk used to play against its opponents. Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin, and Edgar Allan Poe are among some of the famous personalities who defeated the mechanical Turk.
Inspired by Kempelen's innovation, Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a software was launched, which leverages the technology the businesses for performing tasks virtually. These tasks include conducting sample data validation and research, survey participation, and content moderation, amongst others.
The outline of Artificial Intelligence was given birth, when 'Logic Theorist', a program, was conceptualized by Allen Newell, Cliff Shaw, and Herbert Simon. Recognized as one of the first artificial intelligence programs, Logic Theorist was engineered to mimic human problem-solving skills. Funded by the Research and Development (RAND) Corporation, and hosted by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, the program was first presented at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence in 1956, where McCarthy first coined the term Artificial Intelligence. However, the reception of AI was less enthusiastic than the expectations of the researchers, but the event formed the foundation of the research in Artificial Intelligence over the next 20 years. A detailed description of the Logic Theorist can be found in the RAND memorandum in 1963.
The years following the conference saw tremendous growth in the research and development of Artificial Intelligence programs and models. As the research papers and programs displayed promising outcomes, the researchers were rendered to face some major challenges. The major obstacles faced by the researchers were a lack of understanding of words and numbers by the computer and the lack of storage capacity for the data generated.
In 1959, Arthur Samuel, a former employee at IBM coined the term Machine Learning. His Checkers-playing program formed the fundamental concept of Artificial Intelligence and was widely recognized in the world. His program solved the problem of the inability to understand the computer.
In 1965, Gordon E Moore, the co-founder of Intel postulated Moore's law, which states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, and the computer costs get half. It means that the speed and capability of the computer increase every couple of years, and growth is exponential. This helped in countering the problem of storage in the computer. Moore's law became the guiding factor in the industry of semiconductors and computers.
In 1975, the American Social Scientist and Machine Learning pioneer, Paul Werbos, first described the training of the artificial neural network, with the help of Backpropagation in supervised learning. He won the Neural Network Pioneer award for the discovery of Backpropagation. Even though, Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts, recognized the potential of the artificial neural network, by deploying them in a computational algorithm in 1941, the realization of the influence of ANN, was acknowledged after the discovery of Backpropagation.
Owing to the capabilities of AI, two incidents accelerated the AI research in the 1980s. First the introduction of the deep learning model in the year 1986 by Rina Dechter and second, the heavy funding for AI research Projects. Japan-funded US$400 million in a 10-year ambitious project known as Fifth Generation Computer Project, to develop computers with elementary reasoning capabilities, revolutionize computing abilities and enhance artificial intelligence. The idea was to make the human tasks easier and more efficient so that the technology can be utilized for translating language, diagnosing diseases, and helping out financial advisors. However, unfortunately, the FGCP was not able to achieve its goals and the project was termed a failure.
Despite the failure of FGCP, many breakthrough events took place in the 1990s. In 1991, artificial intelligence was enhanced when the US military deployed Dynamic Accessing and Replanning Tool in the Gulf war to optimize and schedule the transportation of supplies and logistics. In 1992, AI was utilized when Carol Stoker and NASA Ames deployed a Robot Telepresence ROV, to explore the marine life in Antarctica. In 1995, IBM created the first chess-paying computer, which defeated the world champion, Garry Kasparov, in 1996.
Now the world is witnessing a period where life without Artificial intelligence is difficult to imagine. This technology has been deployed in all sectors with positive outcomes. The countries are heavily investing in AI, and the big techs are in a race for claiming Artificial Intelligence supremacy. The technology which received a lukewarm reception when introduced has now become a thriving factor amongst businesses, organizations, and institutions.
Over the past few years, many companies are heavily investing in the research and development of Artificial Intelligence. With the discovery of the extended areas of Artificial Intelligence, it is heavily utilized in the financial institutions, healthcare sector, supply-chain management, manufacturing, automobiles, Telecommunication, and automobiles amongst others. As the world is witnessing a tough time, the utilization of Artificial intelligence is proving to be a breakthrough in the operations of businesses.
Suffice to say that, with the heavy dependence of organizations on AI, the scope of the technological revolution has a positive outlook.
