Artificial Intelligence (AI) may feel like a product of the modern digital age, but its roots go back centuries. The fascination with creating “thinking machines” has been a recurring theme in human history.
The earliest known attempts at AI date back to ancient civilizations. Greek mythology described mechanical servants, such as Talos, a bronze giant powered by divine energy. Similarly, ancient Chinese texts mention automata—self-operating machines designed to mimic human actions. These ideas may not have been scientific, but they reflect the human imagination’s early vision of intelligent machines.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the first mechanical devices resembling AI emerged. For example, mathematician Blaise Pascal built the Pascaline, a mechanical calculator capable of performing basic arithmetic. Later, Wolfgang von Kempelen introduced the “Mechanical Turk,” a chess-playing automaton, though it was later revealed to be a clever illusion powered by a hidden human operator.
The turning point for AI as a formal discipline came in the mid-20th century. In 1950, Alan Turing published his groundbreaking paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” introducing the concept of machines simulating human intelligence and the famous Turing Test to evaluate it. Around the same time, early computers like ENIAC and programs like Logic Theorist began performing tasks that mimicked reasoning.
These examples remind us that AI’s evolution is deeply tied to humanity’s quest to understand and replicate intelligence. While ancient myths sparked the idea, scientific breakthroughs turned it into reality. Today, AI continues to grow, but its origins are a testament to centuries of human curiosity and creativity.