The Dartmouth Conference is widely recognized as the seminal event in the history of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Held from June 15 to August 15, 1956, at Dartmouth College, this conference was the first time that AI as a field was formally discussed and conceptualized.
The conference was proposed by John McCarthy, a computer scientist from MIT at the time, along with Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon. McCarthy coined the term "Artificial Intelligence" for the first time in the proposal for this conference. The event was funded by Rockefeller Foundation, which provided $7,500 for the summer session.
The primary aim of the Dartmouth Conference was to explore ways in which machines could simulate human intelligence. The invitation stated:
"We propose that a 2 month, 10 man study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The study is to proceed on the basis of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it."
Key participants included:
The conference did not result in immediate breakthroughs in AI technology, but it laid the groundwork for future research:
The conference's legacy includes:
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