THIS BILLION SECONDS: AI @ 70 Ep 1: AI TAKES THE PENSION

THIS BILLION SECONDS

AI @ 70 -- EPISODE ONE: AI TAKES THE PENSION

On the 17th August 1956, artificial intelligence was born. The founders of the field reckoned they'd have thinking machines equivalent to humans in five year, perhaps ten at the most. What looked easy at the outset turned into a seven-decade struggle - across two "AI winters", when the discipline nearly faded away - before we got to ChatGPT.

TRANSCRIPT:

MARK PESCE, HOST: On the 17th August 1956, artificial intelligence was born.

The final day of a six week workshop that ran through a hot lazy summer at Dartmouth University.

A workshop on “artificial intelligence”.

Words that had never been put together before - and would never be separate again.

G'day, I'm Mark Pesce and this billion seconds are already unfolding as the most significant of this century.

In this miniseries, celebrating the 70th anniversary of artificial intelligence, we're looking at where we’ve come from, how we got here - and where we seem to be going.

Because we’re travelling at the speed of thought.

The future looked bright at the beginning of artificial intelligence.