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Turing’s Turochamp: AI’s Surprising Origin Story
An Exploration of Alan Turing’s Chess Program
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Alan Turing, a pioneering figure in the world of Computer Science, is often celebrated for his work on breaking the code during World War II. However, one of his lesser-known achievements is creating one of the first chess algorithms — a small yet significant early step in the development of artificial intelligence systems.
AI is a difficult concept to fully and accurately define. There are complicated rule-based systems where a set of conditions map inputs to outputs; there are machine learning systems where the mapping between inputs and outputs is inferred; and there are Deep Learning systems where the exact weightings of inputs don’t even need to be specified.
It’s difficult to know where to draw the line between AI and traditional programming techniques. However, simple algorithms and rule-based systems, like those designed by Turing, were a stepping stone to…
