The word they invented

McCarthy coined the phrase at Dartmouth. Before 1956, there was no word for this field.

"Artificial intelligence."

Two words that eventually spread far beyond the lab: into headlines, legislation, job titles, and arguments at dinner tables. So familiar that it no longer feels like someone chose them.

But it was a choice. McCarthy picked it deliberately, partly to distinguish the work from an earlier field called cybernetics. He wanted a clean start.

The name carried an ambition. Intelligence is what humans have. Artificial intelligence is what machines might have. The goal was baked into the label from the first day.

The word they invented

McCarthy coined the phrase at Dartmouth. Before 1956, there was no word for this field.

"Artificial intelligence."

Two words that eventually spread far beyond the lab: into headlines, legislation, job titles, and arguments at dinner tables. So familiar that it no longer feels like someone chose them.

But it was a choice. McCarthy picked it deliberately, partly to distinguish the work from an earlier field called cybernetics. He wanted a clean start.

The name carried an ambition. Intelligence is what humans have. Artificial intelligence is what machines might have. The goal was baked into the label from the first day.