Father Of Artificial Intelligence

Father Of Artificial Intelligence

Hello Connection, I hope you guys are doing well in your life. Nowadays Everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence but most of don't know who is the father of AI. So today we are going to discuss it.

Every feature of intelligence or learning aspects in principle can be so precisely described that a machine can seamlessly simulate it. – John McCarthy.

John McCarthy, who is the Father of Artificial Intelligence, was a pioneer in the field of AI. He not only is credited to be the founder of AI but also one who coined the term Artificial Intelligence.

In 1955, John McCarthy coined the term Artificial Intelligence, which he proposed in the famous Dartmouth conference in 1956. This conference attended by 10 computer scientists, saw McCarthy explore ways in which machines can learn and reason like humans.

He believed in developing machines that will embody the abstract-thinking and problem-solving nature of human brains i.e. a machine can be made to simulate the learning aspects of a human.

At the age of 84, who is the founder of artificial intelligence, John McCarthy left the world on October 24th, 2011. A professor and an inventor, John McCarthy defined and dominated the field of AI for over five decades.

John McCarthy’s Major Achievements in AI

McCarthy went on to invent a new programming language – LISP which is still used as the choicest language in the field of AI. John McCarthy also turned eyes with his mind-boggling concept of time-sharing sometime between the 1950s and 1960s

Throughout his journey, his contributions to the field of artificial intelligence are impeccable. His contributions were recognized globally and were awarded many times. Some of the notable awards to his name are:

  • Turing Award from Association for Computing Machinery in 1971.
  • Kyoto Prize in 1988.
  • National Medal of Science (USA) in Statistical, Computational Sciences, and Mathematics in 1990.
  • Benjamin Franklin Medal in Cognitive Science and Computers from the Franklin Institute in 2003.

Other Leaders In The Field of AI

While the father of AI, John McCarthy is the torchbearer, there are many more names that have made AI what it is today.

1. Noam Chomsky

If John McCarthy is credited as the founder of artificial intelligence and one who coined the term Artificial Intelligence, Noam Chomsky raised a red flag for forgetting artificial methodologies and simultaneously discussed what went wrong with AI. 

A professor and a researcher of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, Noam Chomsky spent 50 years at MIT earning the title of ‘Father of Modern Linguists‘.

McCarthy’s optimism with his concept of AI slowly brought in puzzlement and also garnered Chomsky’s skepticism. Chomsky’s ideas and theories were more rooted in the cognitive behaviour of humans. His contributions in the realm of cognitive psychology and philosophies of language and mind accelerated and helped thrive the ‘cognitive revolution’.

Noam Chomsky, while addressing one of the most critical questions of AI – can cognition be created – weighed in on AI. His approach was Statistical Big Data – an approach that uses mathematics intensively to sift through a huge amount of data and recognize complex patterns.

2. Geoffrey Hinton

Geoffrey Hinton is another torchbearer in the field of artificial intelligence. He is known for his contributions to artificial neural networks. He joined Google (Google Brain) in 2013, and in 2017 he co-founded Vector Institute of Toronto, where he is also the Chief Advisor.

He is deemed as a pioneer in fields of deep learning and is often referred to as the Godfather of Deep Learning. His work includes in-depth research in exploring ways to use neural networks for machine learning, perception, and symbol processing. Hinton’s early fascination with the human brain left many puzzled about its possibility in computers. The idea of implementing neural networks to design complex computer structures was conceived with positivity but the complications seemed far too challenging. However, Geoffrey Hinton, the genius that he was, maintained his confidence. In his interview with the Wired, he goes on to explain why –

I don’t seem to think that there is any other way in which a brain may work. This is the only way – it has to learn the strengths of connections. And if you want to build a device that will replicate this nature of the brain, then you have two ways to do it – either you can program it, or you let it learn by itself. As far as I know, people weren’t programmed, so we did learn. So this is the right way to do it. [Quotes transcribed]

His idea was never to replicate how the brain works. It was always to look at what the brain understands and how it works in certain situations; then using this finding to design a machine that can think like that. That’s how he drew the neural connections.

3. Marvin Minsky

Marvin Minsky was the amalgamation of a philosopher searching for truth and a scientist with a gamut of knowledge. His work inspired the creation of personal computers and the internet. He holds the credit of laying down the foundation stone for exploring possibilities of imparting common-sense reasoning to computers in the field of AI.

His research began with understanding human psychology and computing ideas that could characterize the complex human thinking. Just like the father of AI, John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky also found human intelligence and thinking fascinating and mysterious. And why not, since he was also a colleague to John McCarthy at M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Project.

However, Professor Minsky’s contributions to the field of AI spanned across multiple disciplines. Here’s some of them –

  • He designed the first visual scanner.
  • He also created mechanical hands with tactical sensors.
  • He built Snark, the first wired neural network learning machine.
  • Lastly, at Harvard, he invented the first confocal scanning microscope with superior resolution and image quality.

Like his colleague, John McCarthy, Professor Minsky was also awarded the prestigious Turning Award in 1969.

The field of artificial intelligence also saw many other leaders like Allen Newell, Ray Kurzweil, Andrew Ng, Yann LeCun and more.

All these leaders and their contributions steadily put Artificial Intelligence onto the radar – a field of study that became more prominent with time. Their contributions led to countless inventions in the field of artificial intelligence.



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