Artificial Intelligence (AI) is described as the basis of a “fourth industrial revolution” with profound effects to science, industry, and various aspects of society. Rooted in philosophical and technological developments dating back to ancient times in both the West and China, AI has emerged as a powerful force transforming basic relations between humankind and machines.

Historical Dictionary of Artificial Intelligence in China gives special attention to the individual scientists and entrepreneurs in the West and China responsible for major developments and advances of AI technology along with developments in ancillary fields such as science fiction and films that influence elite and popular opinion on the frequently opaque world of AI. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, cross-referenced dictionary entries, a glossary, appendix and an extensive bibliography.

Lawrence R. Sullivan is a professor emeritus of political science, Adelphi University, and a co-editor and co-translator of Concise Encyclopedia of Green Technology in China (2023) Yangtze! Yangtze! (1989) and The River Dragon Has Come!: The Three Gorges Dam and the Fate of China's Yangtze River and Its People (1998) both by Dai Qing.

Nancy Liu-Sullivan holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, 2006 and served as a senior research scientist specializing in cancer genomics and drug discovery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). In parallel to teaching immunology, radiation biology, and cancer biology at the City University of New York College of Staten Island (CUNY/CSI), Dr. Liu-Sullivan has published extensively on cancer for professionals and the general audience.