Artificial Intelligence: Building Smarter Machines

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In February 2011, artificial intelligent (AI) "smart machine" Watson won a million-dollar prize against two human contestants on Jeopardy. Since then, AI drones, cars, Packbots (rescue robots), and social robots have become realities. Space robots are on the horizon, and according to some AI researchers, the Singularity (smart machines that will reprogram themselves and download massive amounts of information from the Internet until they surpass human intelligence) is not far behind. Award-winning author Stephanie Sammartino McPherson explores the history and remarkable development of AI, from the mid-1950s, when Herbert Simon, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, announced that he and a colleague had invented a "thinking machine" that they called the Logic Theory Machine. McPherson discusses and quotes industry pioneers and leaders, exploring the neurology of the human brain and other inter-related sciences that support AI.