Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Cyber Defence

1On the Origins of Artificial Intelligence

1.1. The birth of artificial intelligence (AI)

1.1.1. The 1950s–1970s in the United States

Alan Turing’s article, published in 1950 [TUR 50], which is one of the founding works in the field of AI, begins with these words: “I propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?’”

In 1955, “Logic Theorist”, considered to be the first AI program, was developed. This work was the result of cooperation between three researchers: a computer scientist (John Shaw) and two researchers from the humanities and social sciences (Herbert Simon and Allen Newell) [SIM 76]. The application was programmed using IPL language [STE 63], created within the RAND and the Carnegie Institute of Technology¹ (a project that received funding from the US Air Force). Here we have the essential elements of AI research: a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together humanities and technology, a university investment and the presence of the military. It is important to note that although the program is described today as the first AI code, these three researchers never use the expression “artificial intelligence” or present their software as falling into this category. The expression “artificial intelligence” appeared in 1956, during a series of seminars organized at Dartmouth College by John McCarthy (Dartmouth College), Claude Shannon (Bell Telephone Laboratories), Marvin Minsky (Harvard University) and Nathaniel Rochester (IBM Corporation). The aim of this ...