Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

• 1. Introduction

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  The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence hands out an award called the Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity. It comes with a prize of one million dollars, awarded for AI work judged to truly help, safeguard, and better human life. That is not the kind of prize a small hobby club hands out.

  A prize like that raises a few obvious questions. Why does a serious scientific body call its top honor after a squirrel? How did a group built around artificial intelligence first come together, and who has stood at its head over the decades? What does it actually produce for the field beyond ceremony? And what does it take to be recognized as one of its own senior members? The answers sit inside a scientific society that quietly shapes how artificial intelligence gets funded, published, and taught.

• 2. A New Name

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  In 1979, researchers founded the organization under the name American Association for Artificial Intelligence. It kept that title until 2007, when it changed to Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the name still used today.

  Allen Newell, Edward Feigenbaum, Marvin Minsky, and John McCarthy each led the organization as president during its early years. Francesca Rossi has held the presidency since July 2022. Her term runs until July 2024, when president-elect Stephen Smith takes over. By now, the organization counts more than 4,000 members worldwide. That roster stretches from newcomers to veterans who may one day be recognized as senior members themselves.

• 3. Journals and Gatherings

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  AAAI backs 14 different journals across the field of artificial intelligence. Its own quarterly title, AI Magazine, has been published continuously since 1980. The magazine aims to showcase important fresh research spanning all of artificial intelligence, helping members follow work outside their own specialties.

  The AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence ranks, in AAAI's own words, among the top gatherings in artificial intelligence. AAAI organizes seven additional gatherings, each tuned to a different niche within the field. AIES pairs AAAI with the Association for Computing Machinery to examine ethics and society. AIIDE focuses on interactive digital entertainment, while ICWSM studies the web and social media. IAAI highlights innovative applications of the technology, and HCOMP covers human computation and crowdsourcing. EAAI looks at educational advances in the field, and KDD centers on knowledge discovery and data mining. All of that publishing and conference work sits alongside a separate program of honors, starting with something called the AAAI Fellowship.

• 4. The Newell Prize

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  A $10,000 prize comes with the ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award, funded by AAAI, the Association for Computing Machinery, and individual donors. It goes to someone whose work spans multiple corners of computer science, or connects computer science to other fields entirely.

  Fred Brooks became its first winner in 1994. Karen Spärck Jones received it in 2006, Michael I. Jordan in 2009, and Peter Stone in 2024. Barbara J. Grosz and Joseph Halpern shared the prize in 2008, one of several times it has split between two winners. The same thing happened for Moshe Tennenholtz and Yoav Shoham in 2012. Kevin Leyton-Brown became the most recent name on the list, honored in 2025.

• 5. Honoring Teachers

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  The AAAI/EAAI Outstanding Educator Award began in 2016, honoring a person or group whose teaching leaves a lasting mark on the field. Peter Norvig and Stuart Russell shared the very first honor that same year. Sebastian Thrun won it in 2017, followed by Todd W. Neller in 2018 and Ashok Goel in 2019.

  In 2022, the honor went to an entire team rather than one person. That team, called AI4K12.org, included David S. Touretzky, Christina Gardner-McCune, Fred G. Martin, and Deborah Seehorn. Michael Littman and Charles Isbell shared the award in 2024, and Subbarao Kambhampati received it the following year. Alan Mackworth and David Poole are set to share the recognition in 2026. Marie desJardins was honored in 2020, and Michael Wooldridge followed in 2021. Ayanna Howard earned the recognition in 2023, one more name in a growing record of teaching honored by the field.

• 6. Earning Senior Status

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  To even be nominated for Senior Member status, a candidate must belong to AAAI for five consecutive years. Candidates also need at least ten years of active work in the professional side of the field. Senior Member recognition is meant to single out members whose careers show real accomplishment in artificial intelligence, not simply tenure. Applications are expected to lay out the candidate's scholarship, leadership, and professional service. That screening connects to a purpose AAAI states for itself. It exists partly to help people who plan and fund research see where artificial intelligence might be heading and why that matters.