A Brief History of AI

Aim

Provide accessible historical grounding for all ages, so learners understand how today’s AI came about and why it behaves differently from earlier systems.

Topics

• Early automation and symbolic AI
• The emergence of machine learning
• Deep learning and modern generative AI
• Key UK milestones (Turing, Bletchley Park, the Alan Turing Institute)
• Why AI today is different: probabilistic, adaptive, behaviour-shaping systems

Activities

• Timeline creation
• “Where do you already use AI?” discussion