The First AI Winter

Why It Was Important

Following years of overpromising (e.g., claims that machine translation would be solved in 3-5 years), governments realized that symbolic AI could not scale to real-world complexity (the combinatorial explosion). The UK's Lighthill Report and DARPA budget cuts drastically froze AI research funding until the 1980s.

Who Invented It

Triggered by the Lighthill Report & DARPA cuts

Sir James Lighthill was an applied mathematician who criticized AI's lack of progress.

Applications

• Science Policy
• Research Funding Cycles