This week at the History of AI – Marvin Minsky was born on August 9th, 1927

This week at the History of AI – Marvin Minsky was born on August 9th, 1927. Minsky was one of the most influential AI scientists.

Marvin Minksy was an important pioneer in the field of AI. He penned the research proposal for the Dartmouth Conference, which coined the term “Artificial Intelligence”, and he was a participant in it when it was hosted the following summer. Minsky would also co-founded the MIT AI labs, which went through different names, and the MIT Media Laboratory. In terms of popular culture, he was an adviser to Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He won the Turing Award for his influence on AI in 1969, as well as the Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2011.

Marvin Minsky was one, if not the, most important figure in the development of Artificial Intelligence, as outlined above. His contributions to the Dartmouth Conference, as well as his works at MIT. Furthermore, he was one of the most famous face for AI development to the public and in popular culture. Thus, the HAI project considers his birth an event in the History of AI.