Leonard Kleinrock on Launching the Internet and his Hopes for the Future of AI

Internet pioneer Leonard Kleinrock joined host Evan Lovett for a brand-new episode of “L.A. in a Minute,” where the UCLA distinguished professor emeritus of computer science opened up about his path toward engineering, the birth of the internet and the future of artificial intelligence.

Kleinrock spoke about how he and a small team sent the very first messages between two computers — one at UCLA and the other, more than 300 miles north at Stanford Research Institute— in 1969, the dawn of the internet. “There was a culture and an atmosphere among we nerds,” Kleinrock told Lovett. “We were solving a good, difficult engineering problem with great promise, but we were focused on making it work.”

He  also detailed the many people who made an impact on his engineering studies along the way — from the World War II GI classmates in night school who brought real-world knowledge to class, to the working engineers who doubled as evening instructors, teaching him the foundations of the discipline.

Kleinrock also revealed why he took a pay cut and left a job as an engineer to become an assistant professor at UCLA after marveling at the beauty of Westwood before skyscrapers. Kleinrock shared his thoughts on AI during the hourlong chat. Watch the full podcast on YouTube.

This article is adapted from a story originally published by UCLA Newsroom.