AI computing pioneer dies aged 84

Artificial intelligence researcher, John McCarthy, has died. He was 84.The American scientist invented the computer language LISP.It went on to become the programming language of choice for the AI community, and is still used today.Professor McCarthy is also credited with coining the term "Artificial Intelligence" in 1955 when he detailed plans for the first Dartmouth conference. The brainstorming sessions helped focus early AI research.Prof McCarthy's proposal for the event put forward the idea that "every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it".The conference, which took place in the summer of 1956, brought together experts in language, sensory input, learning machines and other fields to discuss the potential of information technology.Other AI experts describe it as a landmark moment."John McCarthy was foundational in the creation of the discipline Artificial Intelligence," said Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sheffield."His contribution in naming the subject and organising the Dartmouth conference still resonates today."Prof McCarthy devised LISP at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he detailed in a landmark paper in 1960.The computer language used symbolic expressions, rather than numbers, and was widely adopted by other researchers because it gave them the ability to be more creative.In 1971 Prof McCarthy was awarded the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery in recognition of his importance to the field.He later admitted that the lecture he gave to mark the occasion was "over-ambitious" when he tried to put forward new ideas on how to code commonsense knowledge into a computer programme.He later went on to win the National Medal of Science in 1991."When I spoke to him two years ago he said that he was a little disappointed in the direction of AI today," said Prof Sharkey."He was unremitting in his dedication to the idea of building a truly intelligent machine."Prof Sharkey added that Prof McCarthy wished he had called the discipline Computational Intelligence, rather than AI. However, he said he recognised his choice had probably attracted more people to the subject.After retiring in 2000, Prof McCarthy remained Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Stanford University, and maintained a website where he gathered his ideas about the future of robots, the sustainability of human progress and some of his science fiction writing.