What is Artificial Intelligence? Discuss the foundations and history of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the branch of computer science that is concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include problem-solving, learning, reasoning, language understanding, and perception.

Foundations of AI come from multiple disciplines:

  • Philosophy: Logic, reasoning, ethics.
  • Mathematics: Algorithms, probability, computation.
  • Economics: Decision theory and game theory.
  • Neuroscience: Understanding how the brain works.
  • Psychology: Human cognition and behavior.
  • Computer Engineering: Efficient computing systems.
  • Control Theory and Cybernetics: Feedback and control.
  • Linguistics: Language understanding.

History of AI:

  • 1940s–50s: Birth of computing and early neural networks (Turing, McCulloch & Pitts).
  • 1956: Dartmouth Conference, birth of AI as a field.
  • 1960s–70s: Symbolic AI and rule-based systems.
  • 1980s: Expert systems and knowledge-based AI.
  • 1990s–2000s: Statistical learning, probabilistic methods.
  • 2010s–present: Deep learning, big data, real-world applications like self-driving cars and virtual assistants.

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