Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term coined in 1955 by John McCarthy, Stanford's first faculty member in AI, who described it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." Today it is a broad term for computer systems that can perform tasks with human-like intelligence, such as understanding language, recognizing images, learning from data, reasoning, and making decisions. Modern AI often works by finding patterns in large amounts of data and using those patterns to generate predictions or responses. It can be narrow (good at a specific task) or more general-purpose, like today’s large language models that can handle many tasks.
Explore Similar Terms
Machine Learning (ML) | AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) | Deep Learning
Get the latest news, advances in research, policy work, and education program updates from HAI in your inbox weekly.
Sign Up For Latest News

Over three years, we’ve built progressively harder, more realistic benchmarks for medical AI. Here’s what we learned.
Over three years, we’ve built progressively harder, more realistic benchmarks for medical AI. Here’s what we learned.


This paper examines how nonprofits and frontier AI labs partner to deploy AI for social good and offers recommendations for structuring these partnerships for greater impact.
This paper examines how nonprofits and frontier AI labs partner to deploy AI for social good and offers recommendations for structuring these partnerships for greater impact.


It's one of AI policy's hardest unsolved problems. Expert Deb Raji joins Stanford HAI to find answers that move beyond principles and into practice.
It's one of AI policy's hardest unsolved problems. Expert Deb Raji joins Stanford HAI to find answers that move beyond principles and into practice.


This report assesses America's ability to develop, attract, and retain STEM talent and warns that its advantages over China are narrowing rapidly.
This report assesses America's ability to develop, attract, and retain STEM talent and warns that its advantages over China are narrowing rapidly.


Analyzing thousands of human-AI conversations, a new study shows that people are turning to chatbots for increasingly critical tasks – and that productive outcomes depend on how the collaboration unfolds.
Analyzing thousands of human-AI conversations, a new study shows that people are turning to chatbots for increasingly critical tasks – and that productive outcomes depend on how the collaboration unfolds.


In this paper, HAI Associate Director and Senior Fellow Rob Reich and UC Berkeley School of Information Professor Deirdre K. Mulligan provide concrete recommendations to the California Department of Technology on the implementation of its frontier AI transparency requirements.
In this paper, HAI Associate Director and Senior Fellow Rob Reich and UC Berkeley School of Information Professor Deirdre K. Mulligan provide concrete recommendations to the California Department of Technology on the implementation of its frontier AI transparency requirements.
