Arthur Samuel facts for kids
Arthur Lee Samuel (born December 5, 1901 – died July 29, 1990) was an American computer scientist. He was a pioneer in early computer gaming and artificial intelligence (AI). He is famous for coining the term "machine learning" in 1959. His checkers-playing program was one of the first successful self-learning computer programs. This program showed the basic idea of artificial intelligence very early on.
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Who Was Arthur Samuel?
Arthur Samuel was a brilliant American scientist. He lived from 1901 to 1990. He helped create the fields of computer gaming and artificial intelligence. He worked at important places like IBM and Stanford University. Samuel is best known for his work with computers that could learn on their own.
What is Machine Learning?
Arthur Samuel first used the phrase "machine learning" in 1959. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence. It allows computers to learn from data without being directly programmed. Imagine a computer that gets better at a task the more it practices. That's machine learning! Samuel's work was a big step in this field. It showed that computers could improve their own skills.
The Samuel Checkers Program
One of Samuel's most famous creations was his checkers-playing program. This program was truly groundbreaking. It was one of the world's first successful self-learning programs. This means the computer taught itself how to play checkers better.
- How it worked: The program played against itself many times. Each time it played, it learned from its mistakes. It remembered good moves and avoided bad ones.
- Learning from experience: Over time, the program became very good at checkers. It even beat human players! This showed that computers could learn from experience, much like people do.
- Early AI demonstration: This checkers program was an early example of artificial intelligence. It proved that computers could do more than just follow instructions. They could also learn and adapt.
Arthur Samuel and TeX
Besides his AI work, Arthur Samuel also helped the TeX community. TeX is a computer system used for creating documents. It is especially popular for scientific and technical papers. Samuel spent a lot of time helping users of TeX. He even wrote an early manual for TeX in 1983. This showed his dedication to helping others understand and use new technologies.
