The Legendary Alto and Research at the Edge

On the 50th anniversary of the Alto, many of its creators and some of today’s leading inventors gathered at CHM to share the Alto’s legacy and discuss what we can expect for the future of computing research—centered today on artificial intelligence (AI).

The program included two panels:

In the first, CHM Trustee John Shoch, who worked at PARC as a graduate student, moderated a discussion with two of Alto’s designers, Butler Lampson and Charles Simonyi. Alan Kay participated via video.

The second panel focused on artificial intelligence, arguably the most revolutionary sector in today's computing landscape. CHM Trustee Diane Souvaine led the discussion with two computer scientists from pioneering research labs: Ilya Sutskever,who was then cofounder and chief scientist of Open AI, and Microsoft Chief Scientific Officer Eric Horvitz.

This conversation was recorded on April 26, 2023 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.

To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org