Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."
This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. Artificial intelligence has been the subject of optimism, but has also suffered setbacks and, today, has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult problems in computer science.
AI research is highly technical and specialized, and deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other.