Bonus Episode: A Brief History of AI

Tech Break by Friday

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Bonus Episode: A Brief History of AI

Most people think AI is so new. It's integration into our daily lives, yes, but AI goes back to the 1950s.

Paraskevi Kivroglou

Jun 01, 2025

Transcript

Hi there. Welcome back to another episode of Tech Break by Friday. I was inspired to release this bonus episode after hearing people say how “new AI” is. It sparked an idea: why not do a quick dive into the fascinating history of Artificial Intelligence, and explore how this incredible field actually began? So, that’s what we’re doing today – a mini time-travel adventure!

Before we jump in, if you enjoy what we do here at Tech Break by Friday, I’d be so grateful if you could take a moment to rate the podcast on whatever platform you’re listening on – whether that’s Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or somewhere else. It’s a small click for you, but it genuinely helps the show reach more tech-curious folks.
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Alright, ready to take a journey through time? Let’s rewind the clock!

Generated using ChatGPT and the script information of this episode.

1. The 1950s – The Idea is Born

Picture this: the 1950s. Computers weren't the sleek devices in our pockets; they were colossal machines, often filling entire rooms! It was in this era, specifically in 1950, that the brilliant British mathematician Alan Turing asked a question that would echo for decades: "Can machines think?" What does the word “think” mean? In this case, it was a bit unclear. So, Turing, being the practical genius he was, reframed this into something testable: the famous Turing Test, or as he called it, the "imitation game."

You, as a human interrogator, are chatting (via text) with two participants hidden from view.
One is a human (Player B), and the other is a machine (Player A).
Your job? Could you figure out which is which? If the machine could consistently fool you into believing it was human, it would pass the test.

The famous Turing Test laid the philosophical foundation of artificial intelligence. It wasn't just about crunching numbers anymore; it was about mimicking human conversation and, by extension, intelligence.

I want to ask you a critical question: Do you think mimicking human conversation is a part of intelligence, and what are the actual traits that make humans unique?

2. 1956 – The Birth of Artificial Intelligence

Just a few years later, in 1956, a group of researchers at Dartmouth College in the U.S. coined the term Artificial Intelligence. Their ambition was nothing short of revolutionary: to build machines that could simulate every aspect of human learning and intelligence. Talk about a bold vision!

This initial optimism fueled a period of exciting exploration. And one fascinating example from this era emerged in the mid-1960s: a program called ELIZA. Created by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT between 1964 and 1966, ELIZA was designed to simulate a conversation, famously taking on the persona of a Rogerian psychotherapist. If you typed something like, "I'm feeling a bit down today," ELIZA might respond, "Can you tell me more about why you are feeling a bit down today?"

Now, ELIZA wasn't actually understanding you. It cleverly used pattern matching and keyword spotting to rephrase your statements as questions. But the effect was surprisingly convincing for many people!

3. 1970s–80s – The Chill of the First "AI Winter"

But, as with many groundbreaking journeys, the path wasn't always smooth. The computers of the day, bless their vacuum-tube hearts, just didn't have the sheer power or memory needed for the really complex tasks the researchers dreamed of. As a result, funding started to dry up, and some of that initial fiery excitement began to cool. This period became known as the "AI Winter" – a time when things got a bit frosty for AI development.

4. 1997 – AI Roars Back into the Headlines!

Then, a real breakthrough moment that captured the world's attention! In 1997, IBM’s supercomputer, Deep Blue, went head-to-head with the reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov… and won. This was huge! It wasn't just a computer winning a game; it was AI defeating a human master at a game demanding deep strategy, foresight, and intellect. Suddenly, AI was back in the spotlight.

5. 2012 – The Deep Learning Revolution

The next truly fundamental shift started around 2012. This is where things really started to accelerate, leading to the AI we see today. What changed? Two main things: a massive increase in computing power (thank you, powerful GPUs – initially designed for gaming!) and the availability of vast amounts of data (hello, internet!). This combination fueled the rise of deep learning, particularly a type of AI inspired by the human brain called neural networks. A model named AlexNet made a massive splash by dominating an image recognition contest. For the first time, AI could "see" and identify objects in images with astounding accuracy, often better than humans!

6. Today – AI in Our Lives

And that brings us up to speed. From those early philosophical questions and room-sized computers, AI has blossomed. It’s in our smartphones, helping us type and take better photos, in our cars with driver-assist features, powering the recommendation engines that suggest what to watch or listen to, and, yes, in tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that help us write, learn, and create. If used correctly, it’s helping us work faster and more productively in this modern world.

From Turing’s pivotal question to the sophisticated tools we use daily, it’s been quite a ride — and honestly, it feels like it’s only just beginning. There's so much more to explore and understand, which is exactly what we try to do here on the podcast.

If you liked this little trip through AI history and found it helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend or colleague who might also find it interesting.

Have a great week, stay curious, and keep building.