David Erin Wilson
Interactive timelines

Timelines

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1455 to 2026

The AI Timeline

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Control panel of the IBM 701, the machine IBM used for the 1954 Georgetown-IBM translation demonstration
IBM 701 console. The machine that ran the 1954 Georgetown-IBM translation demonstration, an entry in the AI Timeline. Photo Dan, 2009, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

A sourced, graded record from 1455 to 2026. Each entry is tagged by era and by whether it is a word (law, paper, policy) or a practice (a machine, a deployed system), on two spines: technology and governance. A prologue traces print-era precedent (the Stationers' Company, the Licensing Act, the Statute of Anne) before the main run opens in 1943.

Technology spine Governance spine
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David E. Wilson, voxdw.com. Last updated October 19, 2026.