Artificial intelligence (AI)

Introduction
Pros
- Pro 1: AI can make everyday life more enjoyable and convenient, while improving our health and standard of living.
- Pro 2: AI makes work easier for students and professionals alike.
- Pro 3: AI helps marginalized groups by offering accessibility for people with disabilities.
- Pro 4: AI can improve workplace safety.
- Pro 5: AI can function as a reliable research partner.
Cons
- Con 1: AI is harming the economic well-being of many people and businesses.
- Con 2: AI undermines critical thinking skills for students and adults alike.
- Con 3: AI hurts racial minorities by repeating and exacerbating racism.
- Con 4: AI poses dangerous privacy risks.
- Con 5: AI can spread harmful fake news and dangerous misinformation and even incite violence and self-harm.
Historical timeline
- B.C.E.
  - Approximately 600 B.C.E.: Greek god Hephæstus creates artificial beings
- 1950 - 1999
  - 1950 - Alan Turning creates the Turing Test
  - 1956 - John McCarthy coins the term “artificial intelligence”
  - 1955-1956 - Logic Theorist program created
  - 1958 - Perceptron invented
  - 1959 - Artificial intelligence laboratory founded at MIT
  - 1960 - John McCarthy creates LISP computer programming language
  - 1964 - 1966 - Joseph Weizenbaum creates ELIZA
  - 1966 - John McCarthy stages computer chess games
  - 1968 - Alexey Ivakhnenkko proposes new approach to AI progaming
  - 1972 - Psychiatrist Kenneth Colby develops Parry chatbot
  - October 1981 - 1983 - Chatbot Racter publishes short story and novel
  - 1995 - A.L.I.C.E. chatbot allows developer input
  - 1995 - Microsoft launches Bob
  - February 1996 - May 1997 - IBM’s computer Deep Blue faces chess master Garry Kasparov
  - 1997 - Microsoft launches Clippy
  - 1997 - Jabberwacky launched for entertainment
  - 1998 - Kismet developed at MIT
- 2000 - 2019
  - 2001 - Elbot praised for humor and snark
  - 2001 - SmarterChild released for use on AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and MSN Messenger
  - June 4, 2001 - Radiohead released GooglyMinotaur chatbot
  - January 13, 2011 - February 16, 2011 - IBM’s Watson wins Jeopordy!
  - October 4, 2011 - Siri added to iPhone 4S
  - May 2014 - Microsoft launches XiaoIce in China
  - June 18, 2014 - Eugene Goostman passes Turing Test
  - April 2, 2014 - Cortana debuts
  - November 2014 - Alexa debuts on Amazon Echo
  - July 1, 2015 - Google Photos AI uses racist tags
  - December 11, 2015 - OpenAI launches
  - March 23, 2016 - Microsoft Tay shut down within 16 hours of launch
  - 2017 - 2019 - BBC produces AI interactive storytelling project
  - 2018 - Microsoft publishes book on the future of AII
  - August 2018 - Schools increasingly track students with AI
  - July 22, 2019 - Microsoft partners with OpenAI
- 2020 - 2023
  - May 2020 - Thomson Reuters sues ROSS Intelligence
  - November 30, 2022 - ChatGPT launched by OpenAI
  - November 3, 2022 - Class action lawsuit filed against GitHub, Microsoft and OpenAI
  - January 13, 2023 - Visual artists sue Stability AI
  - July 18, 2023 - Open AI partners with American Journalism Project
  - February 3, 2023 - Getty Images sues Stability AI
  - March 22, 2023 - Tech giants call for six-month pause
  - May 8, 2023 - Brookings Institute notes political bias in AI
  - June - September 2023 - Three separate lawsuits filed against OpenAI
  - May 30, 2023 - Wellness chatbot taken offline after weight loss focus
  - June 22, 2023 - OpenAI CEO testifies before Senate
  - July 7, 2023 - Authors sue Meta
  - July 11, 2023 - Authors and other creatives sue Google AI
  - August 12, 2023 - AI creates deadly recipes
  - September 12, 2023 - Coke releases limited edition drink co-created with AI
  - September 19, 2023 - January 5, 2024 - Authors’s groups sue OpenAI
  - October 17, 2023 - Mike Huckabee and others sue Bloomberg Media
  - October 18, 2023 - Music publishers sue Anthropic
  - October 30, 2023 - Biden establishes standards for AI safety and security
  - December 2, 2023 - McDonald’s forms AI partnership with Google Cloud
  - December 27, 2023 - June 27, 2024 - Newspapers sue Microsoft and OpenAI
- 2024
  - January 24, 2024 - Pope Francis warns against AI
  - February 8, 2024 - FCC outlaws use of AI voices in robocalls
  - February 14, 2024 - Study finds carbon emissions are higher for human writers and illustrators than for AI
  - February 21, 2024 - Google’s Gemini AI over-corrects racial bias
  - February 28, 2024 - Raw Story Media and AlterNet sue OpenAI
  - February 28, 2024 - The Intercept Media sues OpenAI and Microsoft
  - March 8 - May 2, 2024 - Authors sue NVIDIA
  - March 13 - October 8, 2024 - OpenAI expands news media and content provider partnerships
  - March 12, 2024 - Google limits election-related questions
  - July 2, 2024 - Report: Ukraine uses AI-powered drones in war with Russia
  - June 10, 2024 - OpenAI partners with Apple
  - July 10, 2024 - Open AI partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory
  - August 14, 2024 - AI allows man with ALS to speak
  - September 4, 2024 - Man arrested for fraud, accused of using AI to create fake bands
  - October 2024 - Mother sues Character.AI. over child’s seath by suicide
  - October 2024 - AI companies look to nuclear power
  - October 24, 2024 - Biden signs national security memo with AI “guardrails”
  - October 26, 2024 - AI mortality calculator introduced
  - October 28, 2024 - AI beats human doctors in diagnosing patients
  - November 4, 2024 - Meta to allow U.S. military use of AI models
  - November 14, 2024 - Studies find humans prefer AI-generated poetry
  - November 14, 2024 - “Daisy” introduced to scramble “granny scam artists” in United Kingdom
  - November 19, 2024 - HarperCollins will allow use of books for AI training
  - November 20, 2024 - AI Coca-Cola ads slammed online as not “the real thing”
  - November 29, 2024 - Canadian news outlets sue OpenAI
  - December 4, 2024 - Google releases AI weather forecast bot
  - December 4, 2024 - UCLA announces AI comparative literature class
  - December 9, 2024 - Parents file suit against Character.AI for alleged abuse
  - December 12, 2024 - Klarna chief executive claims AI can replace humans at work
- 2025
  - January 3, 2025 - Reports of religious leaders experimenting with AI
  - January 7, 2025 - Representative Schweikert introduces bill to allow AI to write prescriptions
  - January 9, 2025 - 41 percent of surveyed companies say they will downsize and use AI
  - January 13, 2025 - Biden administration issues AI rules
  - January 13, 2025 - Washington Post investigation finds misuse of AI by police
  - January 15, 2025 - Gallup poll finds Americans unknowingly use AI
  - January 15 - February, 2025 - Open AI expands media partnerships
  - January 16, 2025 - Apple to disable AI news summaries
  - January 20, 2025 - Trump revokes Biden AI executive order
  - January 21, 2025 - Stargate announced by Trump
  - January 22, 2025 - AI failed to detect gun brought to school and used in shooting
  - January 23, 2025 - Saferbot released in conjuction with Urbana police department
  - January 23, 2025 - “Humanity’s Last Exam” featured in New York Times
  - January 27, 2025 - DeepSeek upends AI world
  - January 30, 2025 - OpenAI partners with U.S. National Laboratories
  - February 2, 2025 - Open AI releases Deep Research
  - February 10, 2025 - Nonsense phrases mark AI-generated scientific papers
  - February 11, 2025 - Thomson Reuters wins AI copyright case
  - February 21, 2025 - OpenAI reports evidence of A.I.-powered Chinese surveillance tool
  - February 24, 2025 - American Psychological Association (APA) warns against AI “therapists”
  - February 25, 2025 - AI video of Trump and Musk broadcast at HUD
  - March 4, 2025 - OpenAI announces partnerships with 15 research institutions
  - March 10, 2025 - Lila Sciences goes public
  - March 10, 2025 - Experts recommend policy update for voice recognition in courtrooms
  - March 12, 2025 - Sam Altman unveils AI model that is “good at creative writing”
  - March 12, 2025 - Yale Law School scholar suspended after AI-news site reports terrorist link
  - March 20, 2025 - AI saves man’s life according to New York Times report
  - March 23, 2025 - Author Richard Osman encourages authors to “have a good go” at Meta for copyright infringement
  - March 27, 2025 - Generative AI therapy proved useful
  - April 21, 2025 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences releases AI rule
  - April 30, 2025 - Questions on California bar exam revealed to be AI-generated
  - May 1, 2025 - AI-generated version of murder victim speaks at sentencing
  - May 2, 2025 - Microsoft will make Gemini AI chatbot available to kids
  - May 2, 2025 - AI-powered shopping launched by Visa and MasterCard
  - April 3, 2025 - American adults wary of AI
  - April 9, 2025 - Top generative AI use is therapy/companionship
  - May 8, 2025 - BBC launches course taught by AI-generated Agatha Christie
  - May 13, 2025 - Audible will offer AI narrators and translators to publishers
  - May 17, 2025 - Students are having to prove they didn’t use AI on assignments
  - May 21, 2025 - AI weather model Aurora outperforms traditional models
  - May 21, 2025 - Newspapers publish AI-generated summer book list featuring fake titles
  - May 22, 2025 - Spate of deepfake laws passed since 2023
  - May 29, 2025 - New York Times company agrees to license editorial content to Amazon for AI platform
  - June 2025 - Faceage AI can estimate biological age, improving cancer survival predictions
  - June 2025 - Timbaland launches AI music project
  - June 2, 2025 - FDA clears AI breast cancer risk tool
  - June 10, 2025 - Study finds lower cognitive function in LLM-assisted essay writers
  - June 10, 2025 - FDA will use AI to make drug approval most efficient
  - June 11, 2025 - AI company mechanize wants to “fully automate work”
  - June 19, 2025 - Study finds reasons behind generative artificial intelligence avoidance in college faculty
  - June 19, 2025 - Study finds larger LLMs produce “substantially higher emissions” than smaller LLMs
  - June 21, 2025 - AI creating “tsunami” of applicants for job openings
  - June 21, 2025 - AI creating a new digital divide
  - July 1, 2025 - Cloudflare announces default AI data scraper block
  - July 2, 2025 - ChatGPT is being used to write biomedical research papers
  - August 5, 2025 - Clinical case reports man accidentally poisoned himself with sodium bromide per ChatGPT suggestion
Assessment quiz
1-minute survey
Discussion questions
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Images

Closeup front view of a silver humanoid AI robot face with blue eyes against a blue gradient background.

Artificial intelligence (AI): Media

Is artificial intelligence good for society?

Images

Closeup front view of a silver humanoid AI robot face with blue eyes against a blue gradient background.

Artificial intelligence

Is artificial intelligence good for society?

© Yuichiro Chino—Moment/Getty Images

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