This grant supports participants in two one-day meetings to be held at the University of Maryland during the Fall of 2004 and Winter of 2005. The purpose of these meetings will be to discuss and plan for symposia, workshops, and other events in 2006 to mark the approximately 50 years of research and experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Participants will discuss ways to mark progress in AI, assess the current state of the art, and single out key areas for future work. In addition to planning how to mark a historical moment with appropriate activities, the participants in these meetings will discuss activities that can serve as a springboard for the field to focus on new challenges and directions. The results of these meetings will have impact across the entire spectrum of the AI community, including seasoned researchers, current doctoral, and undergraduate students, as well as other areas of computer science, historians of science, and the public at large, which is often not well versed in the goals, accomplishments, and history of AI.
