Ai: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence [Hardcover]

Daniel Crevier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1993

In the summer of 1956, a group of young scientists sat down to consider the astounding proposition that "every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can, in principle, be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it." Armed with their own enthusiasm, the excitement of the idea itself, and lots of government money, they predicted that the whole range of human intelligence would be programmable within their own lifetimes. Nearly half a century later, the field has grown tenfold - with mixed results. Based on extensive interviews with the major players in the history of artificial intelligence, including Marvin Minsky, Herbert Simon, Alan Newell, Raj Reddy and Patrick Winston, this book chronicles their successes, from robotics to world-class chess playing and, equally, their failures. With anecdotes about the founders and leaders and their celebrated feuds and intellectual gamesmanship, the book also discusses the next necessary breakthrough - teaching computers "common sense".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Perhaps no venture in the history of computing has produced so many high hopes and attracted so many brilliant minds, yet produced so many daunting failures as the quest for artificial intelligence. Daniel Crevier' fascinating and deeply researched history of the AI traces the search for machine intelligence from the optimistic first experiments of the mid 1950s, through the classic projects of the next two decades, on to the mixed fortunes of the commercial AI ventures that began in the 1980s. In addition to being a history of an intellectual field, it's a portrait gallery of the brilliant and often eccentric people who built it. Crevier's discussion does not demand a programming background, yet takes the reader deeply into theoretical issues that make us ponder the phenomenon of human intelligence. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

An engineering professor at the University of Quebec and an entrepreneur in the field of artificial intelligence, Crevier predicts that by 2020 or so, computers will have acquired the critical facility that has evaded all thinking machines to date: the ability to reason on a commonsensical level. Setting aside the commanding implications of that speculation, Crevier focusses on AI social history in this chronicle of the more than 30-year engineering saga of the AI movement, citing observations of such guiding lights in the field as Marvin Minsky, Herbert Simon and Allen Newell. In documenting the jolts and starts of this relatively new area of inquiry (with its overload of acronyms), Crevier diminishes the dislocating effect of confronting an evolution in intelligence greater than our own. Like a sermon preached to believers, this update on the AI movement will appeal mostly to its followers. Library of Science and Small Computer Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465029973
• ISBN-13: 978-0465029976
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #811,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to artificial intelligence., September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ai: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence (Paperback)

It's a great pity that this book is out of print. Daniel Crevier has written an excellent history of AI, which is also insightful in its analysis of the field. It is that rare creature in AI literature, something that is written clearly and objectively for the layperson, but that also conveys the complexity of AI. AI would find a lot more use in our workplaces and homes than it already has, if more people would communicate its strengths and weaknesses as lucidly as Daniel Crevier, and focus on its practical applications rather than speculating on spiritual machines. He would do a great service to the field to bring it up to date and have it republished.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AI: The search continues, January 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ai: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence (Paperback)

AI Tells the bumpy story of the search for artificial intellegence from the eyes of the people who were there. The stories start in the 1950's and include present day research. It is well written and captures the reader with a touch of philosophy, asking such questions as "are computers really smart?"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An amusing history of this much-maligned topic, October 15, 1995

By A Customer

This review is from: Ai: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence (Paperback)

As this book demonstrates, you can learn a lot from what doesn't work. The history and politics of AI are as interesting as its successes and failures to date. There's not a lot of technical detail here, but the author does manage to weave the thread of a pretty good story through this history.