The creator of Artificial Intelligence studies begins with the work of pioneer computer scientist Alexander Turing (1912-1954) who in the 1930's evolved a concept of a "Turing Machine."  This was quantified as a device that could manipulate symbols and derive an answer to computations if a set of rules where in place. About a decade later, the first machine that we would recognize as the grandfather of the modern computer was built based on Turing's principles.  One of the more interesting concepts he promoted was the idea that a device would pass the "Turing Test" if an operator, in interacting with the device, couldn't determine if the machine was computing on its own, or if there was actually a human controller behind it.  If operating on its own, the machine would then be acting "intelligently,"  and, of course, "artificially."