“Artificial Intelligence” is currently the hottest buzzword in tech. And with good reason – after decades of research and development, the last few years have seen a number of techniques that have previously been the preserve of science fiction slowly transform into science fact.
Already AI techniques are a deep part of our lives: AI determines our search results, translates our voices into meaningful instructions for computers and can even help sort our cucumbers (more on that later). In the next few years we’ll be using AI to drive our cars, answer our customer service enquiries and, well, countless other things.
But how did we get here? Where did this powerful new technology come from? Here’s ten of the big milestones that led us to these exciting times.
Getting the ‘Big Idea’
The concept of AI didn’t suddenly appear – it is the subject of a deep, philosophical debate which still rages today: Can a machine truly think like a human? Can a machine be human? One of the first people to think about this was René Descartes, way back in 1637, in a book called Discourse on the Method. Amazingly, given at the time even an Amstrad Em@iler would have seemed impossibly futuristic, Descartes actually summed up some off the crucial questions and challenges technologists would have to overcome:
“If there were machines which bore a resemblance to our bodies and imitated our actions as closely as possible for all practical purposes, we should still have two very certain means of recognizing that they were not real men.”
He goes on to explain that in his view, machines could never use words or “put together signs” to “declare our thoughts to others”, and that even if we could conceive of such a machine, “it is not conceivable that such a machine should produce different arrangements of words so as to give an appropriately meaningful answer to whatever is said in its presence, as the dullest of men can do.”
He then goes on to describe the big challenge of now: creating a generalised AI rather than something narrowly focused – and how the limitations of current AI would expose how the machine is definitely not a human:
“Even though some machines might do some things as well as we do them, or perhaps even better, they would inevitably fail in others, which would reveal that they are acting not from understanding, but only from the disposition of their organs.”
So now, thanks to Descartes, when it comes to AI, we have the challenge.
Image Credit: Techradar
News This Week
Long COVID Is Taking A Silent Toll On Mental Health, Here’s What Experts Say
Months after recovering from COVID-19, many people continue to feel unwell. They speak of exhaustion that doesn’t fade, difficulty breathing, or an unsettling mental haze. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that recovery from the [...]
Study Delivers Cancer Drugs Directly to the Tumor Nucleus
A new peptide-based nanotube treatment sneaks chemo into drug-resistant cancer cells, providing a unique workaround to one of oncology’s toughest hurdles. CiQUS researchers have developed a novel molecular strategy that allows a chemotherapy drug to [...]
Scientists Begin $14.2 Million Project To Decode the Body’s “Hidden Sixth Sense”
An NIH-supported initiative seeks to unravel how the nervous system tracks and regulates the body’s internal organs. How does your brain recognize when it’s time to take a breath, when your blood pressure has [...]
Scientists Discover a New Form of Ice That Shouldn’t Exist
Researchers at the European XFEL and DESY are investigating unusual forms of ice that can exist at room temperature when subjected to extreme pressure. Ice comes in many forms, even when made of nothing but water [...]
Nobel-winning, tiny ‘sponge crystals’ with an astonishing amount of inner space
The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi on Oct. 8, 2025, for the development of metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, which are tunable crystal structures with extremely [...]
Harnessing Green-Synthesized Nanoparticles for Water Purification
A new review reveals how plant- and microbe-derived nanoparticles can power next-gen water disinfection, delivering cleaner, safer water without the environmental cost of traditional treatments. A recent review published in Nanomaterials highlights the potential of green-synthesized nanomaterials (GSNMs) in [...]
Brainstem damage found to be behind long-lasting effects of severe Covid-19
Damage to the brainstem - the brain's 'control center' - is behind long-lasting physical and psychiatric effects of severe Covid-19 infection, a study suggests. Using ultra-high-resolution scanners that can see the living brain in [...]
CT scan changes over one year predict outcomes in fibrotic lung disease
Researchers at National Jewish Health have shown that subtle increases in lung scarring, detected by an artificial intelligence-based tool on CT scans taken one year apart, are associated with disease progression and survival in [...]
AI Spots Hidden Signs of Disease Before Symptoms Appear
Researchers suggest that examining the inner workings of cells more closely could help physicians detect diseases earlier and more accurately match patients with effective therapies. Researchers at McGill University have created an artificial intelligence tool capable of uncovering [...]
Breakthrough Blood Test Detects Head and Neck Cancer up to 10 Years Before Symptoms
Mass General Brigham’s HPV-DeepSeek test enables much earlier cancer detection through a blood sample, creating a new opportunity for screening HPV-related head and neck cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for about 70% of [...]
Study of 86 chikungunya outbreaks reveals unpredictability in size and severity
The symptoms come on quickly—acute fever, followed by debilitating joint pain that can last for months. Though rarely fatal, the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness, can be particularly severe for high-risk individuals, including newborns and older [...]
Tiny Fat Messengers May Link Obesity to Alzheimer’s Plaque Buildup
Summary: A groundbreaking study reveals how obesity may drive Alzheimer’s disease through tiny messengers called extracellular vesicles released from fat tissue. These vesicles carry lipids that alter how quickly amyloid-β plaques form, a hallmark of [...]
Ozone exposure weakens lung function and reshapes the oral microbiome
Scientists reveal that short-term ozone inhalation doesn’t just harm the lungs; it reshapes the microbes in your mouth, with men facing the greatest risks. Ozone is a toxic environmental pollutant with wide-ranging effects on [...]
New study reveals molecular basis of Long COVID brain fog
Even though many years have passed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of infection with SARS-CoV-2 are not completely understood. This is especially true for Long COVID, a chronic condition that [...]
Scientists make huge Parkinson’s breakthrough as they discover ‘protein trigger’
Scientists have, for the first time, directly visualised the protein clusters in the brain believed to trigger Parkinson's disease, bringing them one step closer to potential treatments. Parkinson's is a progressive incurable neurological disorder [...]
Alpha amino acids’ stability may explain their role as early life’s protein building blocks
A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on one of life's greatest mysteries: why biology is based on a very specific set [...]
