Overview
- Kyoto University’s Center for Human Behavior and Evolution said Ai died on January 9 at 4:04 p.m. from old age and multiple organ failure with staff present.
- Ai was a central participant in decades of studies at the Inuyama institute, forming the core of the long-running Ai Project on perception, learning, and memory.
- She began computer-based language learning at about 1½ years old and later recognized numbers and kanji, tapped piano keys to set rhythms, and completed advanced computer tasks.
- Research featuring Ai helped establish experimental approaches to understand chimpanzee minds and provided a foundation for thinking about human cognitive evolution.
- Born in West Africa in 1976, she arrived at the institute in 1977 and in 2000 gave birth to Ayumu, who was studied for parent–offspring transmission of skills.