The field of artificial intelligence has lost one of its most influential figures. Patrick Winston, a renowned computer scientist and beloved professor at MIT, passed away on July 19 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston at the age of 76.
For nearly half a century, Winston shaped the landscape of MIT artificial intelligence research contributions, serving as the director of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1972 to 1997. His leadership continued as the lab merged with the Laboratory for Computer Science, eventually forming what is now known as MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
As a dedicated educator and innovative researcher, Winston spearheaded CSAIL's Genesis Group, which focused on developing AI story understanding systems that mimic human-like intelligence. His groundbreaking work aimed to create machines capable of telling, perceiving, and comprehending narratives, believing such endeavors could illuminate aspects of human intelligence that remain mysterious to scientists.
"My principal interest is in figuring out what's going on inside our heads, and I'm convinced that one of the defining features of human intelligence is that we can understand stories," Winston, the Ford Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, explained in a 2011 CSAIL interview. "Believing as I do that stories are important, it was natural for me to try to build systems that understand stories, and that shed light on what the story-understanding process is all about."
Winston's exceptional teaching abilities were legendary at MIT, where his annual "How to Speak" presentation during the Independent Activities Period drew massive crowds year after year.
"As a speaker he always had his audience in the palm of his hand," recalls MIT Professor Peter Szolovits. "He put a tremendous amount of work into his lectures, and yet managed to make them feel loose and spontaneous. He wasn't flashy, but he was compelling and direct."
Throughout his distinguished career, Winston's dedication to education earned him numerous accolades, including the Baker Award, the Eta Kappa Nu Teaching Award, and the Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, cementing his status as a computer science education pioneer.
"Patrick's humanity and his commitment to the highest principles made him the soul of EECS," MIT President L. Rafael Reif wrote in a letter to the MIT community. "I called on him often for advice and feedback, and he always responded with kindness, candor, wisdom and integrity. I will be forever grateful for his counsel, his objectivity, and his tremendous inspiration and dedication to our students."
Born on February 5, 1943, in Peoria, Illinois, Winston demonstrated an insatiable curiosity about science, technology, and human nature from an early age. His journey at MIT began in 1961, where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees before joining the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1970.
His doctoral research with Marvin Minsky focused on the challenges of machine learning, launching a career dedicated to human-like intelligence AI research. Winston's Genesis project represented his ambitious attempt to model computers after human intelligence to better understand our own motivations, rationality, and perception.
Utilizing MIT research scientist Boris Katz's START natural language processing system and a vision system developed by former MIT PhD student Sajit Rao, the Genesis project could analyze short narratives and generate reports interpreting connections between events. Winston chose Shakespeare's "Macbeth" as a primary text for the system to process, recognizing that the tragedy offered rich insights into universal human themes such as ambition and revenge.
"[Shakespeare] was pretty good at his portrayal of 'the human condition,' as my friends in the humanities would say," Winston told The Boston Globe. "So there's all kinds of stuff in there about what's typical when we humans wander through the world."
Winston's fascination with human intelligence and communication naturally extended to what he often described as his greatest passion: teaching. His influence as a computer science education pioneer continues through generations of students he mentored.
"He was a superb educator who introduced the field to generations of students," says MIT Professor and longtime colleague Randall Davis. "His lectures had an uncanny ability to move in minutes from the details of an algorithm to the larger issues it illustrated, to yet larger lessons about how to be a scientist and a human being."
A former president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Winston authored and edited numerous influential books, including a seminal AI textbook still used in classrooms worldwide. Beyond academia, he co-founded Ascent Technology, which develops scheduling and workforce management applications for major airports.
Patrick Winston leaves behind a remarkable AI legacy that will continue to influence researchers and students for generations. He is survived by his wife Karen Prendergast and his daughter Sarah.
