The Perceptron: How a Failed 1950s Robot Brain Accidentally Launched Modern AI

TL;DR: The machine that was supposed to recognize your grandmother ended up recognizing absolutely nothing for 20 years. Then it changed everything.

Let's cut through the mythology and get straight to the uncomfortable truth: the Perceptron, an early artificial neural network, was a spectacular failure that nearly killed AI research for decades. And yet, without this magnificent disaster, ChatGPT wouldn't exist.

The Hype Machine (Before Silicon Valley Made It Cool)

In 1957, psychologist Frank Rosenblatt first simulated the Perceptron on an IBM 704 computer at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory. By 1958, the U.S. Office of Naval Research unveiled a demonstration of this technology.

The New York Times breathlessly reported it as the "embryo of an electronic computer that [the Navy] expects will be able to walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself and be conscious of its existence." The New Yorker described it as "the first serious rival to the human brain ever devised."