The Birth of Artificial Intelligence: How John McCarthy Created LISP

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the field of computer science that aims to create machines and systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning, decision making, and natural language processing. AI has become one of the most influential and transformative technologies of the 21st century, with applications ranging from entertainment to education, from health care to business, and from security to social good.

But how did AI begin? Who was the first person to conceive and implement the idea of creating intelligent machines? The answer is John McCarthy, a computer scientist at Dartmouth College who developed the first artificial intelligence program in 1956. He also coined the term “artificial intelligence” and created a language called LISP that could perform logical reasoning and problem-solving tasks.

John McCarthy: The Father of Artificial Intelligence

John McCarthy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1927. He received a BS in mathematics from Caltech in 1948 and a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University in 1951. He was interested in logic, computation, and philosophy, and was influenced by the works of Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing, and Alonzo Church.