The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence is founded

Background

Research fields need places where their work can be collected, compared and handed on. A conference lets researchers present results while they are still being argued over; a magazine or a proceedings volume lets those results be read afterwards; a society gives a field a way to speak to the people who pay for research and to the public who live with its results. Artificial intelligence, which draws at once on mathematics, engineering, psychology and philosophy, needs such a meeting point as much as any field does.

Founding under another name

The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence was founded in 1979 ^[1]. It began under a different name, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and the initials AAAI have stayed with it through the change ^[1]. Whatever the name, the organisation has described itself in the same way throughout: a nonprofit scientific society ^[1].

What the society says it is for

AAAI describes itself as devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behaviour, and their embodiment in machines ^[1]. The phrasing is worth pausing over, because it names two things at once. The first is understanding intelligence — how thought and intelligent behaviour actually work. The second is building that understanding into machines. The second half is what makes AI a distinct discipline rather than a branch of psychology or of mathematics: the test of an idea is often whether a machine can be made to act on it.

Its stated mission is to advance and integrate safe and responsible AI to benefit society ^[1]. The word "integrate" carries as much weight as "advance". Research that stays inside a laboratory does not benefit anyone by itself, so the society's remit covers both pushing the field forward and bringing its results into wider use in a way that is safe and responsible.

Goals and activities

The society lists four goals: promoting research in and responsible use of AI, increasing public understanding of AI, improving the teaching and training of AI practitioners, and guiding research planners and funders ^[1]. Each goal points at a different group the society works with — researchers, the general public, students and teachers, and the people who decide where money for research goes.

The activities follow from the goals. AAAI organises and sponsors conferences, symposia and workshops ^[1]. It publishes a quarterly magazine for its members and a series of proceedings, among them the annual proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence ^[1]. It also runs educational programmes and governmental outreach, and awards grants and scholarships ^[1].

Why it matters

Taken together, these activities describe the ordinary but essential work of a scientific society. Conferences and workshops are where results are first presented and argued over; proceedings are the record that survives afterwards; a quarterly magazine carries ideas to members between conferences. Educational programmes and the goal of improving teaching and training address how the next generation of practitioners learns the subject — a question that matters especially in a field where what is taught and what is practised can drift apart quickly. Governmental outreach and the goal of guiding research planners and funders matter because AI research is expensive, and its direction is shaped by where money goes. Grants and scholarships move support towards people who might otherwise not have it.

The mission's emphasis on safe and responsible AI is also a statement about how the society sees its own role: not only to speed the field up, but to take part in deciding how its results reach society. For a reader trying to find a way into artificial intelligence, AAAI's conference proceedings, its magazine and its educational work are among the places where the field's own account of itself can be found.