History of AI series in CACM
Hello SIGCIS, CACM recently put up the online version of the fifth and final part in my history of AI series, which has been appearing slowly over the past year and a half. These add up to a very short history of AI from 1955 to the present. 1. Conjoined Twins: Artificial Intelligence and the Invention of Computer Science," Communications of the ACM 66:6 (June, 2023):33-37. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3593007 2. "There Was No 'First AI Winter'," Communications of the ACM 66:12 (December 2023):35-39. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3625833 3. "How the AI Boom Went Bust," Communications of the ACM 67:2 (February 2024):22-26. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3634901 4. "Between the Booms: AI in Winter," Communications of the ACM 67:11 (November 2024):18-23. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3688379 5. "Artificial Intelligence Then and Now," Communications of the ACM 68:2 (February 2025). https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/artificial-intelligence-then-and-now/ A somewhat less short (circa 50K words) version of this story will be appearing as an MIT Press book with the working title Artificial Intelligence: The History of a Brand. Other than more detail, context, and human background a main difference is that each short chapter in the book features a relatively detailed case study of a classic AI-branded system. This is a short history of AI in all senses, focusing on the brand itself and the relationship of AI to the development of computer science as a discipline. Given the huge industry focused on writing about modern AI the focus is almost exclusively on AI prior to the recent boom, with a brief discussion of contemporary approaches there primarily as a contrast. In all formats, I've been making an effort to showcase a variety of interesting work that's been appearing on the topic from younger scholars over the last few years. In November I was at the IWM in Vienna as the Senior Digital Humanism fellow. While in town I also agreed to teach a compressed graduate course for the compute science students at the technical university, using a draft of the book as the core text. You can see the syllabus at https://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom/TUW If anyone is interested in trying out a newer draft of the book for teaching in the summer or fall then let me know and I'll see what I can do. Best wishes, Tom Thomas Haigh Professor & Chair, History Department, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee Chair, IEEE Computer Society History Committee Director, ACM History Committee Turing Awards Project See more at www.tomandmaria.com/Tom <http://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom>
Tom, congratulations on all this work. I like the strategy you followed of doing it in chunks before rushing to "THE book." The topic is complicated, historical research on it just having gotten started in the past two decades, and the amount of hype out there is colossal. As usual, you do good work so I look forward to reading the book. I have to confess I only read one of the ACM pieces--blame it on too many other things attracting my attention. Jim On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 4:39 PM thomas.haigh--- via Members < members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
Hello SIGCIS,
CACM recently put up the online version of the fifth and final part in my history of AI series, which has been appearing slowly over the past year and a half. These add up to a very short history of AI from 1955 to the present.
1. Conjoined Twins: Artificial Intelligence and the Invention of Computer Science," *Communications of the ACM *66:6 (June, 2023):33-37. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3593007 2. "There Was No 'First AI Winter'," *Communications of the ACM *66:12 (December 2023):35-39. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3625833 3. "How the AI Boom Went Bust," *Communications of the ACM* 67:2 (February 2024):22-26. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3634901 4. "Between the Booms: AI in Winter," *Communications of the ACM* 67:11 (November 2024):18-23. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3688379 5. “Artificial Intelligence Then and Now,” *Communications of the ACM* 68:2 (February 2025). https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/artificial-intelligence-then-and-now/
A somewhat less short (circa 50K words) version of this story will be appearing as an MIT Press book with the working title Artificial Intelligence: The History of a Brand. Other than more detail, context, and human background a main difference is that each short chapter in the book features a relatively detailed case study of a classic AI-branded system. This is a short history of AI in all senses, focusing on the brand itself and the relationship of AI to the development of computer science as a discipline. Given the huge industry focused on writing about modern AI the focus is almost exclusively on AI prior to the recent boom, with a brief discussion of contemporary approaches there primarily as a contrast.
In all formats, I’ve been making an effort to showcase a variety of interesting work that’s been appearing on the topic from younger scholars over the last few years.
In November I was at the IWM in Vienna as the Senior Digital Humanism fellow. While in town I also agreed to teach a compressed graduate course for the compute science students at the technical university, using a draft of the book as the core text. You can see the syllabus at https://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom/TUW
If anyone is interested in trying out a newer draft of the book for teaching in the summer or fall then let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Best wishes,
Tom
Thomas Haigh
Professor & Chair, History Department, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
Chair, IEEE Computer Society History Committee
Director, ACM History Committee Turing Awards Project
See more at www.tomandmaria.com/Tom
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-- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada@umn.edu 608-274-6382
Hello SIGCIS, I am currently a participant in the Modern History of Mathematics program at the Isaac Newton Institute (https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/mhm/). As I still have a job in Milwaukee to do, I'm mostly in the US this semester, but was in residence for most of Jan and will be back in late-March and early April to coincide with the main period of activity for a subproject on the history of data and computing. The institute encourages residents to give talks elsewhere in the UK, and even has some travel funding available for the purpose though I am not sure what the terms and details of that are. So if any of you are in the UK and would like me to try to set up a visit to give a talk, let me know and we'll see what can be worked out. My main talk currently is called "Artificial Intelligence: The Brand that Wouldn't Die" and presents material from my CACM series (described in my earlier message below) and upcoming book. But I also have talks on ENIAC labour, early data base management history, etc. I've also got a talk about A New History of Modern Computing should anyone be really into the historiography of computing, and a talk that adapts my article "Hey Google, What's a Moonshot: How Silicon Valley Mocks Apollo" which I could freshen a little to acknowledge the huge sums currently being talked about around AI investment. Some dates during the period are earmarked for activities at the institute. The best for a talk would be March 19-21 which are entirely free, but I can also be free Mar 31-April 2 and, depending on how things shape up, potentially on a couple of other days. Best wishes, Tom Thomas Haigh Professor & Chair, UWM History Department Chair, IEEE Computer Society History Committee Director, ACM History Committee Turing Awards Project See more at <http://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom> www.tomandmaria.com/Tom From: thomas.haigh@gmail.com <thomas.haigh@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, January 13, 2025 4:39 PM To: members@sigcis.org Subject: History of AI series in CACM Hello SIGCIS, CACM recently put up the online version of the fifth and final part in my history of AI series, which has been appearing slowly over the past year and a half. These add up to a very short history of AI from 1955 to the present. 1. Conjoined Twins: Artificial Intelligence and the Invention of Computer Science," Communications of the ACM 66:6 (June, 2023):33-37. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3593007 2. "There Was No 'First AI Winter'," Communications of the ACM 66:12 (December 2023):35-39. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3625833 3. "How the AI Boom Went Bust," Communications of the ACM 67:2 (February 2024):22-26. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3634901 4. "Between the Booms: AI in Winter," Communications of the ACM 67:11 (November 2024):18-23. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3688379 5. "Artificial Intelligence Then and Now," Communications of the ACM 68:2 (February 2025). https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/artificial-intelligence-then-and-now/ A somewhat less short (circa 50K words) version of this story will be appearing as an MIT Press book with the working title Artificial Intelligence: The History of a Brand. Other than more detail, context, and human background a main difference is that each short chapter in the book features a relatively detailed case study of a classic AI-branded system. This is a short history of AI in all senses, focusing on the brand itself and the relationship of AI to the development of computer science as a discipline. Given the huge industry focused on writing about modern AI the focus is almost exclusively on AI prior to the recent boom, with a brief discussion of contemporary approaches there primarily as a contrast. In all formats, I've been making an effort to showcase a variety of interesting work that's been appearing on the topic from younger scholars over the last few years. In November I was at the IWM in Vienna as the Senior Digital Humanism fellow. While in town I also agreed to teach a compressed graduate course for the compute science students at the technical university, using a draft of the book as the core text. You can see the syllabus at https://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom/TUW If anyone is interested in trying out a newer draft of the book for teaching in the summer or fall then let me know and I'll see what I can do. Best wishes, Tom Thomas Haigh Professor & Chair, History Department, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee Chair, IEEE Computer Society History Committee Director, ACM History Committee Turing Awards Project See more at www.tomandmaria.com/Tom <http://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom>
participants (2)
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James Cortada -
thomas.haigh＠gmail.com