Births are always interesting affairs. According to some, births are always traumatic-a shock to come from the womb to the world. The birth we give witness to here is that of a new society, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence-AAAI. It has not seemed to me traumatic, but rather almost wholly benign. In a world where not much is benign at the moment, such an event is devoutly to be cherished.

In this first message to the members of AAAI, AAAI President Allen Newell answers the questions "what are we?" "why did we come into existence?" "how will AAAI conduct itself?" and ends with a few thoughts on the name "artificial intelligence." According to some, births are always traumatic--a shock to come from the womb to the world. The birth we give witness to here is that of a new society, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence--AAAI. It has not seemed to me traumatic, but rather almost wholly benign.

In this first message to the members of AAAI, AAAI President Allen Newell answers the questions "what are we?" "why did we come into existence?" "how will AAAI conduct itself?" and ends with a few thoughts on the name "artificial intelligence." According shock to come from the womb to the world. The birth we give witness to here is that of a new society, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence--AAAI. It has not seemed to me traumatic, but rather almost wholly benign. In a world where not much is benign at the moment, such an event is devoutly to be cherished.

As a major scientific society, the AAAI has a responsibility for promoting its field as well as informing its members of the latest technical developments. Since the latter function is adequately performed by the several journals and conference proceedings already mentioned, the editorial committee chose to assign to AI Magazine the task of providing AAAI members and the public as well with a broader perspective on the research activities within AI. The approach we intend to take includes publishing informative expository and survey articles designed not so much for those working within a particular problem domain, but for those outside it who would like to gain a better understanding of the issues and methods currently being studied without having to cull all the technical literature.

Births are always interesting affairs. According to some, births are always traumatic — a shock to come from the womb to the new world. The birth we give witness to here is that of a new society, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence — AAAI. It has not seemed to me traumatic, but rather almost wholly benign. In a world where not much is benign at the moment, such an event is devoutly to be cherished. The proper topic for this initial message is talk about beginnings and circumstances, goals and aims, character and style. My premier duty as president of AAAI, it appears, will be to give a presidential address at the upcoming annual meeting. Specific precedents being absent, I need to give thought to what belongs in an AAAI presidential address. But one thing I already know: That talk should be devoted to our science, not our society. It should be substantive , not procedural. It should look inward at the state of what we know about intelligence and computers, not outward at our place in the larger society. It is in this message that earthly matters belong.