1957 - 1974

Programmers were able to store more information on computers with greater speed.

1961

In 1961, the industrial robot called Unimate was created by George Devol. It was initially used by General Motors for assembly and handling die-cast parts and welding car bodies.

1964

In 1964, the first chatbot called Eliza was created by Joseph Wiezenbaum. This psychotherapeutic robot generated pre-designed responses to users to make them feel as though they were in a conversation and understood their requests.

1969

In 1969, Shakey, the first general-purpose mobile robot, was introduced. It had a television monitor and bars as motion sensors.

1995

In 1995, Richard Wallace introduced Alice, a chatbot inspired by Eliza. He made improvements, including the implementation of natural language processing, which later served as the basis for the movie "Her."

1997

In 1997, IBM developed Deep Blue, a computer capable of playing chess. The following year, Kismet was introduced as one of the first robots capable of social and emotional interaction with humans. Kismet had facial expressions, movable eyes and head, and projected emotions such as sadness, anger, tranquility, surprise, and disgust.

2002

Roomba was introduced as a domestic cleaning appliance equipped with filters, long-term mobility, and the ability to navigate around obstacles such as furniture and stairs. In the same year, Amazon released Alexa, a voice-controlled virtual assistant. Google also introduced its own virtual assistant programming during that time.

2005

Stanford University achieved a futuristic goal by developing the first car equipped with an automatic driving system for police use, which won a robot vehicle competition.

2008

Apple demonstrated its commitment to artificial intelligence by introducing the iPhone and Siri, which gave users access to vast amounts of information on the internet and enabled them to make calls, send messages, and sync information across devices.

2011

Siri was introduced as a virtual assistant with a user-friendly interface, knowledge of the user's preferences, and a hierarchy of services and requests.

2012

Google developed a computer that could learn to recognize cats, faces, and human bodies by analyzing YouTube videos.

2014

During a Turing test, a computer bot named Eugene Goostamn fooled 30 out of 150 judges into believing that they were interacting with a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy. The same year, Amazon introduced Alexa, a virtual assistant available on various platforms, including smartwatches, car monitors, and TVs.

2015

The AlphaGo machine defeated a professional Go player for the first time. The following year, Hanson Robotics introduced Sophia, a more advanced humanoid robot than Kismet, which had been introduced 12 years earlier. Sophia could replicate facial expressions, language, and social interactions with human beings

2017

Amper was introduced as the first AI capable of composing music and assisting musicians.

2019

MIT's Arnav Kapur created Alter Ego, a device that can detect what someone is saying by interpreting neuromuscular signals sent from the brain to the vocal cords.

2020

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, significant advancements were made in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning, particularly in healthcare, economics, and language analysis. In 2020, the development of natural language procedural models, a subfield of AI, was a major focus and was used in language translation and chatbot applications, as reported by The New Stack.

2021

Matrix multiplication is one of machine learning's most fundamental tasks, but creating algorithms to speed it up has been a challenging puzzle for AI. In October, DeepMind published a paper in Nature introducing AlphaTensor, the "first AI system for discovering novel, efficient, and provably correct algorithms."

This breakthrough sheds light on a 50-year-old open question in mathematics about finding the fastest way to multiply two matrices.

2022

AI is poised to become the new fuel for the modern economy, and experts believe that companies need to embrace AI to stay competitive in the future. In 2023 and beyond, AI is expected to remain a crucial component of digital transformation strategies in various industries. Chatbots, in particular, are predicted to become increasingly sophisticated and could eventually become the primary means of providing customer service in the fintech sector.

2023

AI will be the "new fuel for the modern economy" and experts argue that companies need to embrace AI to prepare for the future.

As we move forward in 2023, AI is expected to remain a key part of digital transformation strategies across various industries.

"Chatbots, specifically, will become more sophisticated and could soon become the future of fintech customer service."

Advances through the years

What does Artificial Intelligence mean?

According to data from Forbes, the therm Artificial Intelligence was coined by John McCarthy in 1956 when he brought together a team of researchers in different disciplinary areas such as language simulation, neural networks and complexity theory,

As Brittanica indicates, the concept of Artificial Intelligence is usually applied "to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristics of humans" some examples are the ability to reason, constant curiosity and the discovery and reassigment of meaning, among other features

What does Intelligence mean?

The definition of intelligence, according to Oxford data is, "the ability to learn, understand and think logically about things, the ability to do this well."

The dictionary defines it as "the capacity for learning, reasoning comprehension, and similar forms of mental activity, the ability to grasp the truth, relate, fact, and meaning"

At first glance, it might seem like an acquired capacity, that is, through intermediaries from human interactions, language and the transmission of knowledge, but on the other hand, we must point out the importance played by the cognitive characteristics of the human brain. this leaves the scientist creating the machines in a bind since they must simulate the thought process.

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Artificial Intelligence

"Artificial intelligence takes advantage of computers and machines to limit the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the mind"
-IBM

Where does Artificial Intelligence come from?

1950 - 1970

Neural networks. This was the early stage of AI where researchers first started exploring the idea of creating machines that could think and make decisions like humans. The focus during this time was on developing neural networks, which are mathematical models inspired by the structure and function of the human brain.

1980 - 2010

Machine learning. In this stage, the focus shifted from neural networks to machine learning, which is a type of AI that enables computers to learn and improve their performance based on data. Machine learning algorithms use statistical techniques to identify patterns in data and make predictions or decisions based on that data.

2020 - 2023

Deep learning. This is the latest stage in the evolution of AI where the focus is on developing deep learning algorithms, which are a type of machine learning that uses neural networks with multiple layers. The goal of deep learning is to create AI systems that have a higher level of awareness and the ability to respond to complex situations without being explicitly programmed to do so.

So far, we have seen some definitions of intelligence, and simply the functionality of the mind under some concepts of reasoning, which leads us to ensure that intelligence is merely human until we speak of language and learning, something that science managed to implement through codes and software.

The evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) can be divided into three stages according to data from SAS. These stages are as follows:

Mind Creation

A 2020 publication by the National Center for Biotechnology Information for the journal Dialogs Clin Neurosci "Human intelligence and brain networks" defines intelligence as "a general mental capacity to reason, solve problems, and learn. Due to its general nature, intelligence integrates cognitive functions such as perception, attention, memory, language or planning..."

The article highlights widespread individual differences in the ability to reason, problem-solve, and learn "leading to human differences in the overall ability to cope with challenging situations."

The evolution of the study of thought, intelligence, and functioning of the mind has been supported by Neuroscience and Neo-psychology.

In the article "Areas of Research in Neurosciences" from New York University Grossman School of Medicine, they state that there are approximately 90 billion neurons in the human brain. Each neuron is connected to many others and its function is like a network to react to information from the outside world.

On the other hand, neuropsychology is another pillar of the study of the mind. Giovanni Berlucchi in his article Neuropsychology: Theoretical Basis, defines neuropsychology to understand the relationships between the brain, on the one hand, and the mind and behavior control, on the other.

The pioneers of Artificial Intelligence: Alan Turing and John McCarthy

Alan Turing, a mathematician, logician, theoretical computer scientist, cryptographer, philosopher, and British theoretical biologist, is widely considered one of the fathers of computer science and a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). During World War II, Turing designed the bombe machine which helped speed up the decoding of messages.

In 1950, Turing wrote a paper entitled "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," in which he speculated on the concept of "thinking machines" and proposed the idea of the Turing Test, a measure of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior that is indistinguishable from that of a human. This paper is considered one of the first discussions of AI and remains an important reference in the field today.

American mathematician, scientist, and computer scientist John McCarthy followed Turing's work and is credited with coining the term "artificial intelligence". McCarthy recognized the key to AI was automation, which enables machines to solve problems and provide answers automatically without human intervention, and he developed the Lisp computer language in 1958, which later became the standard programming language for AI.

At the time, the high cost of computing and the lack of mechanisms to store commands made it difficult to pursue AI research. In the early 1950s, the cost of renting a computer was $200.00 per month, and only large technology companies and prestigious universities had access to the machines.

Years later, a program called The Logic Theorist was created by Allen Newell, Cliff Shaw, and Herbert Simon and funded by the RAND Corporation to imitate the problem-solving abilities of a human being. The program was presented at the Dartmouth Summer Research project on AI in 1956 by John McCarthy, who brought together the best researchers in the field, but his goal of reaching an agreement on standard methods for AI was not achieved.

CNBC

Why tech insiders are so excited about ChatGPT, a chatbot that answers questions and writes essays

Verloop

The Timeline of Artificial Intelligence – From the 1940s

SAS

Artificial Intelligence. What it is and why it matters

The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence in Literature and Hollywood

For decades, literature, TV, cinema, and radio have convinced us of simplistic theories about the growth of minds and artificial intelligence.

Based on the reasoning acquired under the pretext of protecting humanity, the androids or any presentation of artificial intelligence decide to exterminate the same humanity that created it, or in not-so-extreme cases, take away their freedom.

It sounds quite fatalistic for science fiction until if we review a bit of history, we can understand the scope of humanity seeking "peace and freedom".

Below we present Hollywood cinema, as it presents us with a panorama that we have reached over time in terms of technological advancement, with the help of literature and science fiction.

Science fiction, abbreviated as SF or Sci-fi, is a genre that primarily explores the impact of science and technology on society.

With the rise of the industrial revolution, the genre emerged in the West as writers and intellectuals speculated about the future impact of advancements in technology.

According to data from Britannica, the creator of the narrative genre of science fiction was Hugo Gernsback, a Luxembourgish-American inventor and writer.

In 1926, he launched Amazing Stories, the first magazine dedicated to science fiction, and by 1929, he coined the term "Science Fiction".

Gernsback created science fiction as a genre by categorizing works like those of Poe and Wells.

While figures such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne have contributed to the invention of science fiction, it is important to recognize the influence of Mary Shelley, the creator of "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus".

Although it may appear to be a classic fantasy novel, a closer examination reveals its deeper themes beyond a monstrous being built of human parts.

Science fiction has come a long way since its inception and continues to captivate audiences with its imaginative and thought-provoking narratives.

Mary Shelley's works provide insight into the moral debate of the late 18th century and the emergence of Romanticism. This movement placed a greater value on the individual and emotions, which was reflected in Shelley's work. In the story, she incorporates the concept of galvanism, or the property of electric current to cause contractions in living or dead organisms, which she refers to as "the vital spark."

Science fiction, as a genre, reflects the theoretical-scientific and moral advancements of its time, as well as the fears and concerns associated with technological advancement. This genre not only portrays dystopian and utopian scenarios but also drives the pursuit of scientific progress and technological innovation.

This genre not only raises fears but also helps drive science to bring benefits and advances in technology, new forms of human interaction, and artificial intelligence. Science fiction has been an important driving force behind technological evolution, influencing not only literature but also cinema and other forms of media.

Literature and technology: science fiction

Metróplis (1927)

They can be easily accessed through a digital banking app, and users do not need to carry a physical card with them. Additionally, digital cards may offer enhanced security features, such as the ability to lock or disable the card if it is lost or stolen.

The day the earth stood still (1951)

Did you know: By calling the number *99#, mobile transactions can be carried out without an app and internet connection.

2001: Space Odyssey (1968)

AEPS is a digital payment system that allows users to conduct financial transactions using their Aadhaar number (a unique identification number issued by the Government of India to every individual resident of India) and biometric data.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

UPI is a digital payment system that allows users to make and receive payments instantly and securely using their mobile phones. It is an open-source platform that is owned and operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Westworld (1973)

Digital wallets have made it easier for users to make payments and manage their finances by eliminating the need to remember card PINs, CVV details, and carry cash. Instead, users can store their bank account and card credentials in their digital wallet and easily add funds and make payments to other merchants with similar applications.