Dartmouth Conference
The Dartmouth Conference (full title: Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence ) was a research project proposed, planned and carried out in the summer of 1956 by John McCarthy , Marvin Minsky , Nathaniel Rochester , and Claude Shannon at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire has been.
Since then, this conference has been regarded as the birth of Artificial Intelligence as an academic subject.
Attendees
In addition to the applicants, Ray Solomonoff , Oliver Selfridge , Trenchard More , Arthur Samuel , Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell attended the event.
execution
The four initiators applied to the Rockefeller Foundation for a grant of US $ 13,500 (salaries, travel expenses, etc.); the application begins with the words:
“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. An attempt will be made to find how to make machines use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and improve themselves. We think that a significant advance can be made in one or more of these problems if a carefully selected group of scientists work on it together for a summer. "
“We propose to hold an artificial intelligence seminar with ten participants at Dartmouth College over two months during the summer of 1956. The study is based on the assumption that basically all aspects of learning and other features of intelligence can be described so precisely that a machine can be built to simulate these processes. The aim is to find out how machines can be made to use language, make abstractions and develop concepts, solve problems of the kind currently reserved for humans, and improve themselves further. We believe that significant progress can be made in one or the other of these problem areas if a carefully selected group of scientists spend a summer working on them together. "
The following sub-topics to be dealt with by the conference are named in the project proposal:
- automatic computer
- How does a computer have to be programmed to use a language?
- Neural networks
- Theoretical considerations on the scope of an arithmetic operation
- Self-improvement
- Abstractions
- Randomness and creativity
Each of the participants should first summarize their previous thoughts on one (or more) of these topics in writing and these should then be distributed to the other participants in preparation.
In the explanations to the 7th sub-topic, the framework for the practical implementation is already defined in a certain sense: Creativity can only arise if normal, goal-oriented, logical thinking is enriched (among other things) with a certain degree of randomness. And so the conference as a whole is also described as an “extended brainstorming” and lasted, unlike initially planned, only one month. Accordingly, the results of this conference did not consist of papers, minutes and publications, as is otherwise customary at such academic events; In the following period, however, the participants, who at that time were mostly still at the beginning of their academic careers, practically all became internationally renowned experts in the (new) field of artificial intelligence.
Appreciation
On the 50th anniversary of this event, a conference was held from July 13 to 15, 2006 under the title "The Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence Conference: The Next 50 Years" to commemorate the foundation of artificial intelligence as a research discipline. Five of the original participants were also represented with their own contributions.
Web links
- "AI @ 50" - Dartmouth College, July 13-15, 2006 (English WP)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Funding application ( Memento of the original dated September 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence Conference: The next 50 years
