Artificial intelligence · 1959

General Problem Solver

An attempt at one program that solves any formalised problem via means-ends analysis.

Newell, Shaw and Simon's GPS separated problem knowledge from a general search strategy that reduced differences between current and goal states. It solved puzzles like Towers of Hanoi but choked on real-world complexity, a lesson that pushed AI toward domain knowledge.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Logic Theorist 1956

What it led to 3

Dendral 1965
Shakey the robot 1966
First AI winter 1974

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Training compute of notable AI models Source: Epoch AI, Notable AI Models (CC BY 4.0)

Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6