The History of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is often portrayed as a sudden revolution—an invention of the twenty-first century that arrived without warning. In reality, the idea of artificial intelligence is older than electricity, older than machines, and older than modern science itself.

The History of Artificial Intelligence tells the story of AI as a deeply human project, one shaped by myth, philosophy, war, economics, and power. Long before code, people imagined artificial beings that could obey, reason, and protect. Enlightenment thinkers transformed thought into rules. World War II turned calculation into a weapon. Cold War cybernetics redefined intelligence as control and feedback. Machine learning shifted intelligence from rules to data.

Rather than celebrating or condemning AI, this book explains it. It shows how each era redefined intelligence in its own image, and how those definitions shaped the machines we build today. From expert systems and AI winters to neural networks, bias, surveillance, creativity, and governance, this book reveals that AI is not neutral—and never has been.

Written with clarity and depth, this work avoids technical jargon while preserving intellectual rigor. It is ideal for general readers, students, educators, and anyone seeking to understand how artificial intelligence emerged—and what it reveals about human values, fears, and ambitions.

AI did not arrive from the future.
It arrived from our past.