bbc-archive 54 years ago
public broadcaster #Artificial Intelligence

Horizon | Could Machines Become Intelligent?

In Boston, Massachusetts recently Benjamin Landy - a respected tournament player - was beaten by MacHack - a computer, designed by Richard D. Greenblatt at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - in a game of chess. One chess periodical described the outcome of the match as "a disgrace to the human race."

Once, machines copied only humans' physical activities - now they can mimic many of our mental processes. How long before they can design their own 'intelligent' programmes, how long before they become our intellectual superior?


Horizon watches the rematch between Mr Landy and Mac Hack, and uses it as a springboard to investigate several facets of artificial intelligence.


Clip taken from Horizon: Mind the Machine, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 30 November, 1970.

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