Overview
- Kyoto University’s Center for the Origins of Human Behavior said she died on January 9 of age-related multi-organ failure at its facility in Kyoto.
- Born in West Africa in 1976 and brought to Japan the following year, Ai joined the long-term Project Ai and began computer-based testing at 18 months.
- By age five she recognized numbers, identified 11 colors, and associated hundreds of objects with visual labels, later demonstrating knowledge of kanji and the English alphabet.
- Her character-recognition work was highlighted by Nature in 1985, and she also produced spontaneous drawings and once escaped a cage in 1989 by opening a lock with a key.
- She gave birth in 2000 to Ayumu, who became a subject of influential memory studies, and her name in Japanese means love.