'Artificial Intelligence' - What does the term mean?
The idea to create machines that are as intelligent as humans is as old as humanity itself. The term artificial intelligence ('AI') itself was coined by computer scientist John McCarthy in 1955:
...the artificial intelligence problem is taken to be that of making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were so behaving.
McCarthy et al, 1955
Today, the concept behind the term 'artificial intelligence' is the notion that computer systems could achieve (or surpass) human-like cognitive capabilities. Even more recent definitions often resemble John McCarthy's original conceptualization:
AI is best understood as a set of techniques aimed at approximating some aspect of human or animal cognition using machines.
Calo, 2017