Timeline of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come a long way since its inception in 1956. In essence, AI is an umbrella term describing the capability of machines to exhibit intelligent behavior and make decisions based on their programming. AI constantly evolves, and what seemed impossible decades ago is now commonplace. From neural networks to deep learning, AI has significantly impacted the world and changed how many things around us are accomplished.

1956 - The term "Artificial Intelligence" was first coined by John McCarthy at a conference held at Dartmouth College. This sparks a wave of research into the field and leads to more advanced forms of machine learning, such as neural networks, expert systems, and fuzzy logic.

1956 - Arthur Samuel develops the first AI program to play checkers, a breakthrough in the field as it marks the first successful attempt at creating an algorithm that can play against a human opponent.

1959 - Allen Newell and John Clifford Shaw develop the first known AI program, Logic Theorist. This is a revolutionary milestone in AI as it enables computers to make decisions based on logic. This provides the foundation for more advanced forms of reasoning and problem-solving.

1964-1966 - Joseph Weizenbaum develops ELIZA, a program designed to simulate conversation with a therapist. ELIZA soon gets credited as the first chatbot, marking a significant step in AI development. It is also a giant leap forward, demonstrating how computers can hold meaningful conversations with humans.

1969 - Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert publish their book "Perceptrons," which argues that neural networks are fundamental to AI. It provides a scientific basis for understanding how machines can learn and reason like humans.

1968-1970 - Terry Winograd develops SHRDLU, a program designed to understand natural language commands. This is another significant milestone in AI as it marks the first successful attempt at using natural language processing (NLP).

1976 - Harpy, a voice recognition system developed by Carnegie Mellon University, is launched. This is a breakthrough in AI that enables machines to understand human speech and respond accordingly. On top of that, it also provides a foundation for more advanced forms of natural language processing.

1980s - Expert systems, a form of AI designed to solve complex problems, begin to emerge. This marks the first successful attempt at solving problems with advanced reasoning and recursion. One of the most famous expert systems is MYCIN, which diagnoses blood infections.

1997 - Deep Blue, a computer designed by IBM, defeats the world chess champion Garry Kasparov, showing that machines can outperform humans in complex tasks. This computer was invented using a combination of AI algorithms and provides an essential benchmark for future AI developments.

1997 -The first fully independent bi-pedal robot, ASIMO, is developed by Honda. This marks another milestone in AI, demonstrating that robots can walk and navigate their environments with minimal human intervention. The success of ASIMO provides a breakthrough in developing robotics and autonomous vehicles.

2005 - Stanford's self-driving car, Stanley, wins the DARPA Grand Challenge. This clearly shows how machines can autonomously navigate their environment and complete complex tasks with minimal human intervention. On top of that, it also opens up new possibilities for autonomous vehicles and robotics.

2011 - IBM's Watson defeats two of the best players in the world at Jeopardy, showing how machines can understand natural language and accurately respond to questions. This is an important benchmark for future NLP and artificial general intelligence (AGI) developments.

2012 - Learning to recognize cat images. Google's mysterious X lab team achieves the first AI that can recognize a cat image without any human labeling. This demonstrates how machines can autonomously learn to recognize objects and ideas with unsupervised learning algorithms.

2016 - AlphaGo is a computer program developed by Google DeepMind to play the board game Go. The program managed to defeat Lee Sedol, one of the world's best Go players. At this point, it became clear that machines can outperform humans in complex tasks such as playing a game of Go.

2019 - OpenAI's GPT-2 system takes the world by storm with its ability to generate human-like text. It enables machines to create realistic and coherent text without any human intervention.

2020 and beyond - COVID-19 pandemic accelerates the development of AI and natural language systems advances concerning human language, such as intent and sentiment. This opens up new possibilities for automation and customer service as AI-powered chatbots can provide personalized, accurate responses to users.