The term "machine learning" first appeared in 1959 in a paper on checkers by Arthur Samuel.

True: Arthur Samuel published a paper on checkers in 1959 that uses the term 'machine learning' (for example, 'Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers'), and no earlier published use of the term is documented. Mostly true: the paper and its use of the term are correct, but the year is slightly off, or Samuel is generally credited with the first use while a scholarly source notes a marginal earlier use. Mostly false: the paper exists, but a clearly documented earlier published use of 'machine learning' shows that this was not the first appearance. False: Samuel's 1959 paper does not use the term, or no such paper exists.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 4.3.3 (Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers, by Arthur L. Samuel) University of Virginia (CS course reprint of IBM Journal paper) · July 1959

   “Originally published in IBM Journal, Vol. 3, No.3. July, 1959.”

2. E2 4.3.3 (Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers, by Arthur L. Samuel) University of Virginia (CS course reprint of IBM Journal paper) · July 1959

   “The principles of machine learning verified by these 'experiments are, of course, applicable to many other situations.”

3. E3 Inventing Machine Learning pressg (Substack) · 1 April 2025

   “Three years later, in 1959, Samuel published “Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers,” in the IBM Journal of Research and Development, coining the term “machine learning.””

A reprint of the paper shows that Arthur L. Samuel's 'Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers' first appeared in the IBM Journal in July 1959 (E1). The text uses the phrase 'principles of machine learning' (E2). An independent secondary source says this 1959 paper coined the term 'machine learning' (E3). None of the evidence documents an earlier published use, so the claim meets the 'true' criteria.