A guide to artificial intelligence
Understand AI, from its first dreams to the frontier.
Artificial intelligence has a long, surprising history and a fast-moving present. This guide tells the story, explains how the machines actually work, and walks you up five tracks — from your first conversation with a chatbot to reading research papers.
“I propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?’”
Alan Turing, Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950) — the opening line of the paper that framed the field. Read his story.
I want to…
Came with something specific in mind? Pick it here and go straight to the page — and the section — that answers it.
Start here
A gentle first route through the essentials. Ticks appear as you go.
Five tracks, novice to expert
Each track assumes the one before it. Start wherever you honestly are — the finder can help.
Explore the guide
The story, the tracks, the big questions and the tools. Each grows as new topics are written.
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”
Alan Turing, 1950