Why 'machine intelligence' beats AI: Claude Shannon thought MI was too flashy, so McCarthy coined AI
aran_nayebi · x · 2026-09-30
Researcher Aran Nayebi argues the field should be called machine intelligence (MI) rather than artificial intelligence (AI).
- Historical tidbit: Claude Shannon partly caused the name AI—he thought "machine intelligence" was "too flashy" compared to "automata studies," so John McCarthy went with AI in his 1955 Dartmouth proposal.
- The argument: the goal is implementing intelligent behaviors in machines, not some "artificial" attribute, so MI is a clearer descriptor—like how we say machine learning, not artificial learning.
- Sources cited: McCarthy and Allen Newell oral histories.
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