Did you know the first “AI” in Europe was made of 304 matchboxes?
Long before Silicon Valley, there was “MENACE”—a machine with no wires or chips that could learn to beat you at Noughts and Crosses. Today, that same spirit of innovation is heading into space with SpaceX and Google.
From Matchboxes and Coloured Beads to Data Centres Built in Space: AI has come a long way since 1963! In that year Professor Donald Michie, of Edinburgh University, declared that
“…in the future, people will draw information from computers as they do water from a tap.”
Professor Michie had originally trained as a biologist at Baliol College, Oxford. In World War 2 he worked, with Alan Turing, at Bletchley Park, on the development of Colossus, the world’s first high-speed electronic computer. Together with Turing, he conceived the idea that machines could be trained, in a comparable way to people, so that their performance of a given task could be improved.
Initially, this wasn’t called Artificial Intelligence but Machine Learning. Michie’s obsession with the idea that machines could learn led to him building MENACE. The Machine Educable Noughts And Crosses Engine, a machine capable of learning to be a better player of Noughts and Crosses than its opponent.
The most amazing aspect of MENACE was that there wasn’t a single wire or chip in the machine. Computers were not freely available in the early 1960s, so Michie built MENACE from 304 matchboxes and glass beads. Each matchbox representing a single possible layout of the grid in play.
It may have been more Blue Peter than Silicon Valley, but with MENACE, Edinburgh can claim to be the birthplace of AI in Europe. If you are interested in finding out more about the early pioneering days of Edinburgh’s contribution to AI, visit https://impact.ed.ac.uk/research/digital-data-ai/back-to-the-future-edinburgh-ai-legacy/, a celebration of over 60 years of innovation.
Fast forward to 2026 and we are in the midst of a technology revolution, as AI is suddenly delivering against Michie’s prediction. Today, however, the data centres required need more than matchboxes and beads. They require space and power; both are at a premium.
Elon Musk believes that the answer is to build data centres in space where there is access to unlimited solar power and where planning approval doesn’t pose a problem. SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation already has around 10,000 satellites in orbit; the idea is to create a specialist network of satellites communicating with each other and with ground stations by laser beams. Musk’s vision is being taken seriously by a large number of players, such as OpenAI and Google, and could go live in as little as two years.
In the 1960s, the British PM, Harold Wilson, spoke about forging a new economy in the white heat of technology. Perhaps both his and Michie’s visions are about to become a reality.
By Connor Stephens
If you enjoyed this article, you may like:
Introducing innovation to the British Chocolate Industry
Five ways to make your people more creative
Published: 16 March 2026
© Copyright Just Recruitment Group Ltd 2026
…in the future, people will draw information from computers as they do water from a tap.
Elon Musk believes that the answer is to build data centres in space where there is access to unlimited solar power and where planning approval doesn’t pose a problem.