A history of AI.
Artificial intelligence (AI) already greatly impacts our day to day lives, but where did it come from?
The powerful AI tools we use today have origins in computing developments over the last 70 years, from code breakers in the Second World War to the very first pattern-recognition networks in the 1950’s.
AI has rapidly advanced in recent decades, with the mathematical field of machine learning giving way to deep learning and, more recently, generative AI.
Experts at Oxford have been at the forefront of many of these breakthroughs, from the birth of the World Wide Web to the first autonomous vehicles taking to the roads.
As AI development accelerates, our researchers continue to uncover new applications, partner with the world’s leading technology companies and ask the big questions about what AI means for society.
The story of AI begins at Bletchley Park, 1944.
1944
At Bletchley Park, home of the British Government’s WW2 Code and Cypher School, young cryptographers Alan Turing and Donald Michie, have frequent discussions on the possibility of building computer programs that could display intelligence.
These early conversations sow the seeds for future advances in artificial intelligence.
1949
American computer scientist, Edmund Berkeley, publishes Giant Brains: Or Machines That Think describing the principles behind computing machines, in which he writes: 'A machine can handle information; it can calculate, conclude, and choose; it can perform reasonable operations with information. A machine, therefore, can think.'
1950
British computer scientist, Alan Turing presents a paper, ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ in which he discusses how to build intelligent machines and how to define a standard for a machine to be called intelligent through the ‘Imitation Game’.
Hear experts at Oxford explain what later became known as ‘the Turing test’.
‘If a computer cannot not be told apart from a human in text-based conversation, it should be deemed ‘intelligent’.
1955
The Logic Theorist, a computer program engineered to mimic the problem-solving skills of a human, performing automated reasoning, is developed by political scientist, Herbert Simon, scientist Allen Newell and computer programmer, Cliff Shaw, based at US research institute RAND.
1956
Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence (DSRPAI) is hosted by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky.
McCarthy coins the term artificial intelligence and the conference inspires the next 20 years of AI research.
1957-1958
American psychologist, Frank Rosenblatt develops the Perceptron, an early artificial neural network enabling pattern recognition based on a two-layer computer learning network.
The machine is a five-tonne computer the size of a room which is fed a series of punch cards. After 50 trials, the computer teaches itself to distinguish cards marked on the left from cards marked on the right.
1959
American computer pioneer at IBM, Arthur Samuel coins the term “machine learning,” in the paper, ‘Some studies in machine learning using the game of Checkers’.
1965
German American computer scientist, Joseph Weizenbaum develops ELIZA, an interactive program that maintains a dialogue in English language on any topic, making it one of the first natural language processing computer programs.
ELIZA features the dialogue between a human user and a computer program representing a mock Rogerian psychotherapist.
1966
Shakey, a mobile robot, is revealed by the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International (Stanford Research Institute). It is the first general-purpose mobile robot to be able to reason about its own actions. Shakey is experimented on for another six years.
1970
The first anthropomorphic robot, the WABOT-1, is built at Waseda University in Japan. It consists of a limb-control system, a vision system and a conversation system.
WABOT-1 is able to communicate with a person in Japanese, measure distances and directions to objects using external receptors.
1979
The Stanford Cart - a robot vehicle that started life in 1960 testing what it would be like to control a lunar rover from Earth - emerges reconfigured as an autonomous vehicle.
At the end of the 1970s it successfully crosses a chair-filled room at Stanford, California, without human intervention in about five hours, becoming one of the earliest examples of an autonomous vehicle.
1980
Wabot-2 is revealed at Waseda University in Japan, a musician humanoid robot. It has a camera for a head and five-fingered hands capable of performing precise and delicate movements.
1981
The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry budgets $850 million for the Fifth Generation Computer project. The project aims to develop computers that within 10 years will be able to carry on conversations, translate languages, interpret pictures, and reason like human beings.
1986
The first driverless car, a Mercedes-Benz van equipped with cameras and sensors, built at Bundeswehr University in Munich under the direction of Ernst Dickmanns, drives up to 55 mph on empty streets.
1990
Computer scientist, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, while under the supervision of Oxford University’s Peggie Rimmer at CERN, Geneva, submits a proposal to the world’s largest particle physics lab in May 1989 for a content sharing system over the Internet.
By the end of 1990 a working system is implemented at CERN, including a browser called WorldWideWeb.
The technology is released outside CERN to other research institutions in January 1991, and then to the whole Internet on 23 August 1991.
The rise of the internet in the 1990s leads to an explosion of digital data, providing the raw material for more sophisticated AI algorithms.
In 2017, Sir Berners-Lee joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science as a Professor.
1995
American computer scientist, Richard Wallace, develops the chatbot A.L.I.C.E (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity), inspired by Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA program.
It engages in electronic chat with humans and is aided by natural language sample data collection at an unprecedented scale, enabled by the web.
A.L.I.C.E is unable to pass the Turing test.
1996
Professor Lionel Tarassenko is awarded the British Computer Society (BCS) Medal for his development of neural network analysis of sleep disorders.
He goes on to join Oxford's Department of Engineering the following year and is currently Theme Lead for the AI & Machine Learning research cluster at Reuben College, Oxford, where he is president.
1997
World chess champion and grand master Gary Kasparov is defeated by IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess playing computer program.
This much-hyped match in New York City - relayed in real time on the internet - is the first time a reigning world chess champion loses to a computer. It marks a huge step towards an artificially intelligent decision-making program.
2000
Honda's ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility robot), an artificially intelligent humanoid robot, is unveiled.
This 130cm high robot can walk on two legs as fast as a human, recognise multiple moving objects, determine the distance and direction of the objects, interpret voice commands and human gestures like a wave or handshake, and autonomously navigate using sensors within its body.
2001
Kismet - a robotic head that can interact with humans in a human-like way - is revealed at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Kismet interacts via facial expressions, head positions, and tones of voice.
2004
Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science opens the Information Engineering Building, housing seven research groups, all working in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence.
Their work ranges from legged robots and self-driving cars to the profound ethical and social implications of AI innovations.
2010's
Smart virtual assistants - software agents that can perform a range of tasks or services based on commands or questions, including verbal - are born and multiply.
They quickly become embedded in people’s homes with direct consumer use including Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google Assistant, while companies start to incorporate virtual assistant technology into their customer service and support.
2011
Google Brain is founded. A deep learning artificial intelligence research team under the umbrella of Google AI, this new research division at Google is dedicated to artificial intelligence.
2011
IBM supercomputer Watson wins the gameshow Jeopardy. Revealing major advancement since Deep Blue beat Kasparov in 1997, Watson is able to find answers from ambiguous clues, such as: "It's a poor workman who blames these."
"What are tools?" answers Watson.
2012
US state Nevada grants a permit to Google’s autonomous 'car of the future'.
The first fully licensed self-driven car – a modified Toyota Prius – wins a special permit which allows it to be used on Nevada’s roads, including the famous Las Vegas strip.
2014
Professor Andrew Zisserman, from Oxford's Department of Engineering Science, develops one of the winning systems at the prestigious annual computer vision ImageNet competition.
He goes on to receive the Bakerian Medal (2022) for his research on computational theory and commercial systems for geometrically analysing images, and for being a pioneer in using machine learning for vision, especially image recognition.
‘Computer vision is a fast moving field, and there are many exciting potential applications for this research.’
2014
Google DeepMind announces a partnership with two Oxford AI research teams to develop the use of deep learning for natural language understanding and improving visual recognition systems using deep learning.
As a part of the collaboration, Google DeepMind pledges to make a substantial contribution to establish a research partnership with the University’s Computer Science Department and the Engineering Department, including a programme of student internships and a series of joint lectures and workshops to share knowledge and expertise.
‘Machine Learning is a technology whose time has come.’
2015
The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science, opens. Headquartered in the British Library, Oxford is one of five founding universities.
In 2017, the institute adds artificial intelligence to its remit.
2016
Oxbotica – a spinout from the University of Oxford's Mobile Robotics Group - becomes the first company in the UK to test self-driving vehicles on public roads.
A self-driving vehicle equipped with autonomy software is successfully demonstrated in Milton Keynes.
The autonomy software running the vehicle, Selenium, originated in Oxford University's Oxford Robotics Institute and is integrated into Oxbotica.
2017
AlphaGo, the computer Go program developed by Google DeepMind, triumphs against top Go player Lee Sedol.
The following year, AlphaGo beats world number one, Ke Jie.
2017
Oxford’s Big Data Institute opens. Based on the University’s Old Road Campus, it is the world's largest interdisciplinary research institute that focuses on the analysis of large, complex, heterogeneous data sets for research into the causes and consequences, prevention and treatment of disease.
2018
Google DeepMind launches a scholarship scheme at Oxford to support and encourage under-represented groups in the field of AI to pursue postgraduate education through the Department of Computer Science.
2018
Professor Michael Woolridge, from the Department of Computer Science, publishes Artificial Intelligence - Everything you need to know about the coming AI. A Ladybird Expert Book.
The book – opening up the field of AI to a wider audience - chronicles the development of intelligent machines, from Turing's dream of machines that think, to today's digital assistants like Siri and Alexa and imagines what a world of ubiquitous AI might look like.
2021
Oxford’s first DeepMind Professor of AI, Michael Bronstein, is appointed to the Department of Computer Science. Previously Head of Graph Learning Research at X (formerly known as Twitter), his work explores geometric deep learning, graph neural networks, 3D shape analysis, protein design, non-human species communication.
‘I look forward to…develop[ing] the next generation of machine learning methods that solve real-world problems and at the same time have the trust of domain experts and the broader public.’
2021
Oxford’s Institute for Ethics in AI launches, with Professor John Tasioulas as its inaugural Director.
The institute aims to tackle ethical challenges posed by AI, from facial recognition to voter profiling, brain machine interfaces to weaponised drones, and contribute to ongoing discussions about how AI will impact employment on a global scale.
October 2022
The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at Oxford launches.
Part of a new international initiative to accelerate innovative use of AI in STEM research (engineering and the natural and mathematical sciences), Oxford will host over 50 postdoctoral fellows over six years, providing them with the tools to increase the scope and speed of their research through AI and Machine Learning.
November 2022
ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot, is made available to the public for free by OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft.
It can generate articles, essays, jokes, poetry and job applications in response to text prompts. After two months it reaches 100 million users.
June 2023
The British government announces that tech entrepreneur Ian Hogarth will head its new £100 million taskforce to look at the safety risks posed by artificial intelligence.
Three months later in September 2023 Professor Yarin Gal, from the Department of Computer Science, is announced as the taskforce’s first Research Director.
The taskforce will help with the development of international AI protections, such as shared safety and security standards and infrastructure.
July 2023
Top corporate players in the development of AI, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI, agree to new safeguards for AI.
Among the guidelines brokered by the US’s Joe Biden administration are watermarks for AI content to make it easier to identify and third-party testing of the technology that will try to spot dangerous flaws.
August 2023
Professor Michael Wooldridge is revealed as the speaker for the 2023 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.
He promises to show how computer programmes inspired by the human brain can be taught and teach themselves. He will illustrate the dizzying scale of modern AI systems, while showing the role that AI already plays in people’s lives without individuals being aware of it.
The lectures will be broadcast on BBC Four and iPlayer in late December 2023.
November 2023
The UK hosts the world’s first AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park.
Matt Clifford, Oxford alumni, CEO of Entrepreneur First and Chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, and Jonathan Black, Heywood Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, led preparations for the summit, which aims to provide a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to agree the safety measures needed to mitigate the risks of AI.
The first international summit of its kind, the event brings together leaders, tech companies and academics – including experts at Oxford – to develop international consensus on safety and risks around AI.
‘I welcome the governance of AI—both its rewards and its risk—by democracies, as the current state-of-play is that this transformational technology is really governed only by a small number of opaque tech firms.’
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