The Birth of Artificial Intelligence: How the 1956 Dartmouth Workshop Sparked the Modern AI Revolution

Creatix / November 29, 2025

This was our very first article, published on April 30, 2023. Below is an updated version 

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Nearly 80 years ago, long before ChatGPT, autonomous robots, and generative AI transformed the world, a group of visionary scholars gathered in New Hampshire to imagine the future. In the mid-1950s, Dartmouth professor John McCarthy coined the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) to describe the possibility of building machines capable of mimicking elements of human intelligence.

Before joining the faculty at Dartmouth, McCarthy studied mathematics at Caltech and earned a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University—an academic path that positioned him at the intersection of mathematics, computation, and emerging theories of machine intelligence.

The Bold Idea That Started It All

In 1955, McCarthy and Claude Shannon (the father of modern information theory and a leading researcher at Bell Labs) began discussing a radical idea: a summer research workshop fully dedicated to “artificial intelligence.”

On September 2, 1955, McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Shannon formally proposed a Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence at Dartmouth College. Their proposal boldly stated:

“We propose that a 2-month, 10-man study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire… The study is to proceed on the basis of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.”

The proposal went even further, outlining many of the pillars that would later define the field—natural language processing, neural networks, automated reasoning, machine learning, and self-improving systems.

The Dartmouth Workshop: Where AI Was Born

The 1956 Dartmouth Workshop is widely regarded as the official birth of artificial intelligence as a scientific discipline. Though originally designed for 10 researchers, the workshop attracted about 20 of the most forward-thinking mathematicians and early computer scientists of the era.

They were, in many ways, a vox clamantis in deserto—a voice crying out in the wilderness. Like Dartmouth’s motto, these pioneers were calling out a future few others believed possible.

Yet their vision proved prophetic.

78 Years Later: The AI Revolution Arrives

Fast-forward to the summer of 2023, and AI is no longer speculative or experimental—it has become a fundamental part of daily life and global industry. What began as a summer seminar in Hanover has transformed into a multi-trillion-dollar technological revolution.

In less than a century, humanity has witnessed:

• The rise of personal computing

• The birth of the internet

• The acceleration of machine learning

• The explosion of generative AI

• Early breakthroughs in robotics and autonomous systems

AI is on track to become the most transformational technology in human history, reshaping work, productivity, medicine, education, finance, creativity, and every sector driven by information.

We are living inside the future the Dartmouth pioneers imagined.

AI as the Next Chapter of Human Technological History

Human history can be understood as the story of machines—tools, technologies, and methods created by biological intelligence to extend human capability. From wheels to engines, from electricity to microchips, every leap has amplified what humans can build and how fast we can build it.

AI is different.
AI is the first tool capable of thinking with us.

We have finally created the “thinking machines” envisioned by the founders of artificial intelligence. The consequences—economic, cultural, and existential—will be profound.

There will be extraordinary winners, and extraordinary losers. Many fortunes will be made. Many more may be erased. If the AI era is a gold rush, understanding the technology is your map.

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Below is our initial mission and vision statement in 2023. Since then, we have significantly simplified operations from consulting to publishing. Now we say: "Our readers are the mission. Continuous life improvement is the vision." 

"Creatix.one: AI Consulting for Everyone

As AI reshapes the world, individuals and organizations need help navigating this new terrain. Creatix.one was created to make AI accessible, practical, and profitable for everyone.

Mission

To facilitate the understanding of artificial intelligence and to broker the acquisition of profitable AI skills, products, and services.

Vision

The sustainment of optimal human performance—powered by a symbiotic collaboration between artificial and biological intelligence.

AI is not just a technology.
It is a partner.
It is a multiplier.
It is the next step in human capability.

And it began with a single idea in the summer of 1956.

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