What Is Artificial Intelligence and Who Are the Major Players in the Space?

The global health crisis accelerated the creation of many digital technologies, but its greatest beneficiary may have been Artificial Intelligence (AI), given the recent acceleration of investment in the space. In this piece, we discuss what AI is, how it is being used, and who the major players are.

While the science of Artificial Intelligence first emerged in the 1940s with the UK “Enigma” codebreaker team led by Alan Turing, it has only been during this past decade that AI has made its way into everyday life. The term “Artificial Intelligence” was first coined in 1956 by Dartmouth Assistant Professor John McCarthy to refer to hardware or software exhibiting intelligent behavior. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that AI technology evolved into “expert systems” that more closely resemble today’s technologies.