How do you keep up with AI?

In his column, former Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin shares a piece of reading that has left a lasting impression on him. This month, he explores artificial intelligence through the essay by Marcel Salathé.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is invading the public sphere. How can we keep our bearings? Marcel Salathé helps us to make up our minds in a readable essay, translated from German and informed by the science of the researcher who is co-director of the AI Center at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The author states with conviction – and perhaps a little temerity: «It's no exaggeration to say that AI is the most important invention in the history of mankind.»

The very notion of artificial intelligence appeared in 1955 in