This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – the end of the first AI Winter

This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – the end of the first AI Winter in 1980. This was due to the adoption of “expert systems” into corporations in the 90s and Japan’s Fifth Generation Computer project.

Expert systems are computer systems that can emulate man’s decision-making abilities. They are designed to solve problems through reasoning and they can perform at the level of human experts. The first expert system was SAINT, developed by Marvin Minsky and James Robert Slagle. Lisp machines are designed to be able to run expert systems. Lisp machine runs the Lisp programming language, and in a way, it was one of the first commercial and personal workstation computer.

Japan’s Fifth Generation Computer program was created and funded by the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry in 1982. The goal of this program was to create computers with massively parallel computing and logic programming and to propel Japan to the top spots in advanced technology. This will then create a platform for future developments in AI. By the time of the program’s end, the opinion of it was mixed, divided between considering it a failure or ahead of its time.

The HAI initiative considers the end of the frst AI Winter as a significant marker in AI history. It ended the thaw in AI development and revitalised the field, leading to more pioneering and research.