Is Coeur d'Alene Really "America's Cradle" of A.I.? – The Idea is Less Controversial Than You Might Think. – theKEE.io

Last year Google recognized Coeur d'Alene as Idaho's eCity (beating out Boise and Moscow), and in a recent article in Chatbots Magazine, journalist Kelly Kissack speculated that the little resort town in the Idaho wilderness might just be the "cradle of civilization for artificial intelligence and robotics" in America. Kissack's piece follows the accomplishments of CDA native, Nick Smoot, and his "Innovation Collective". You can find her article here. It seems, however, that historically there is even more evidence to support Kissack's premise. In fact, a decade and a half earlier, a small Coeur d'Alene startup launched an A.I. that could very well have beaten the Turing test more than ten years before "Eugene" in 2014 -- had it competed. The development and origin of this A.I. technology is an intriguing story, and one that personally first drew me to the area and its talent.