AI & SOCIETY / ORIGINS · EDITORIAL FEATURE
Before AI Had a Name, There Was a Question
From Turing's theoretical machine to the early ambitions of artificial intelligence research.
Artificial intelligence grew from decades of work in mathematics, logic, engineering and the study of human thought.
1936: A powerful abstraction
Alan Turing described an abstract computing machine that could carry out formally specified operations. The model became foundational to theoretical computer science, but it was not itself an artificial intelligence system.
1950: Can machines think?
Turing's paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” proposed the imitation game as a way to discuss machine intelligence. The idea remains influential — and debated.
1956: A field takes shape
The Dartmouth summer research project brought researchers together around the emerging idea of artificial intelligence. The field has changed dramatically since, but its central questions remain fascinating.
Further reading: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Turing; Dartmouth — Origins of AI.