Artificial intelligence has a longer history than many people realise. This course traces the development of AI from early theoretical ideas to today’s tools such as ChatGPT. We explore key milestones, influential thinkers and shifting expectations, helping participants understand how modern AI emerged and how it fits into everyday life today. No technical background is required.
This course begins by explaining what Artificial Intelligence actually means in everyday language, then explores humanity’s long fascination with “thinking machines” through myths, inventions, and early ideas. We move into the birth of AI as a scientific field in the 1950s, tracing key breakthroughs alongside periods when progress stalled. Participants then see how modern AI grew through data and computing power, leading to today’s systems such as large language models and ChatGPT, explained simply. We look at influential people shaping AI, global trends in research and investment, and how different countries approach AI. The class also introduces the most widely used AI platforms and compares when each is most useful. Real-life examples show how AI already appears in daily activities, followed by a balanced discussion on benefits, limits, ethics, and what the future might hold.
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Explain what Artificial Intelligence is in simple terms and describe the major milestones that shaped its development
- Recognise how AI moved from research labs into everyday life and understand, at a high level, how tools like ChatGPT work
- Compare the main AI platforms and decide when each is most useful
- Discuss how different countries approach AI development and use
- Identify both opportunities and limitations and take part in informed conversations about where AI may go in the future
