Evolution of Generative AI: A timeline of breakthrough innovations
History of Generative AI
AI is popping up everywhere these days; you can’t get away from it. It’s on track to be the next transformative technology, as game-changing as smartphones were in 2007 and the internet in the early 1990s.
But did you know it’s been around since the 1950s?
AI wasn’t as advanced back then as it is now. Even though AI is still in its early stages, it’s already transforming how we live and work.
To understand the rise of Generative AI, we have to explore the development of AI. While the field’s exact origins are debated, a significant milestone occurred in 1939, when Alan Turing played a pivotal role in cracking the Enigma code.
This achievement, though not directly related to generative AI, demonstrated the potential for machines to perform complex symbolic reasoning, laying the groundwork for future advancements in AI.
Evolution of Artificial Intelligence
In the early 20th century, two brilliant minds set the stage for what would become one of the most transformative technologies in human history: artificial intelligence (AI). Though their paths never crossed, Alan Turing and Frank Rosenblatt each made monumental contributions that would eventually converge into the sophisticated AI systems we know today.
Alan Turing, a genius famous for decoding the Enigma machine, is considered to be the person who first explored the mathematical possibility of building AI.
Turing was fascinated by the concept of machines that could think and reason like humans. In his famous paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” he poses the question, “Can machines think?”. He suggests that just as humans rely on the information available to them to make decisions and tackle problems, machines can do likewise.
Furthermore, he proposed the famous Turing Test as a way to evaluate a machine’s ability.
Fast-forward to the late 1950s. Another computer geek, Frank Rosenblatt, inspired by the workings of the human brain, sought to create machines that could learn from experience. In 1957, he introduced the perceptron, which could be described as the first operational realization of a neural network. These neural networks today play an important role in deep learning.
ELIZA: First Generative AI
In 1961, the first instance of generative AI, the ELIZA chatbot was developed which could simulate conversations by using pattern matching and substitution methodology. However, ELIZA didn’t actually understand the content; it just followed simple rules to mimic human conversation.
After that, AI experienced a period of stagnation between the 1960s and 1990s, often referred to as the “AI winter.” During this time, interest and funding for AI research significantly declined.
The Evolution of Generative AI
It wasn’t until the 1990s, with advances in technology and the availability of more data, that AI began to make more substantial progress. The rise of the internet played a crucial role in the development of advanced AI programs.
With the rise of the internet and advancement in computers, machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning became more accessible. This opened up new opportunities to create advanced AI models.
From its first mention in the 1940s and 1950s, it took more than 60 years for artificial intelligence to advance significantly.
The arrival of the internet played a crucial role by proliferating data, allowing machines to better mimic human behavior. However, despite these advancements, generative AI applications were not as popular until 2022, when ChatGPT was launched.
Key technologies that led to the development of advanced generative AI models
Read the full article: https://www.brilworks.com/blog/evolution-of-generative-ai/
Originally published at https://www.brilworks.com.
