A16Z AI Playbook

Precisely defining artificial intelligence is tricky. John McCarthy proposed that AI is the simulation of human intelligence by machines for the inaugural summer research project in 1956. Others have defined AI as the study of intelligent agents, human or not, that can perceive their environments and take actions to maximize their chances of achieving some goal. Jerry Kaplan wrestles with the question for an entire chapter in his book Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs To Know before giving up on a succinct definition. Rather than try to define AI precisely, we'll simply differentiate AI's goals and techniques: Some people use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning interchangeably.