Why is Lisp used for AI?

Question

I've been learning Lisp to expand my horizons because I have heard that it is used in AI programming. After doing some exploring, I have yet to find AI examples or anything in the language that would make it more inclined towards it.

Was Lisp used in the past because it was available, or is there something that I'm just missing?

Answer 1

One reasonable answer is that Artificial Intelligence is an accumulation of very difficult problems, and Lisp is a great language for solving difficult problems and not just AI.

The reason for this is that macros, generic functions, and rich introspection support for short code and simple introduction of field abstractions. It is a language that you can make more powerful. For a number of problems that's irrelevant, and it works with its own costs, but for another problems that power is needed to make any progress.