In 1958, John McCarthy, a pivotal figure in the founding of artificial intelligence who coined the term in 1955, invented the list-processing language LISP, which became the preferred choice for programming AI systems. Programs developed in LISP have been utilized in NASA spacecraft and are integral to various practical AI applications. McCarthy's 1960 paper, “Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I,” laid the theoretical groundwork for LISP as a universal computational formalism. Additionally, he made groundbreaking contributions to the verification of program specifications. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 84.

LISP is celebrated for its flexibility and power, enabling the creation of a diverse array of software, including operating systems, compilers, games, and artificial intelligence systems. LISP Machines, Inc., founded by Richard Greenblatt, and Symbolics, founded by AI Lab ex-administrator Russell Noftsker, were key players in the commercialization of LISP machines. Although they experienced success in the mid-1980s, the rise of powerful microcomputers capable of running LISP programs at comparable speeds ultimately led both companies to bankruptcy, with LMI folding in 1987 and Symbolics in 1993.

LISP is one of the oldest high-level programming languages still in active use, second only to Fortran. Since its inception, it has evolved, giving rise to numerous dialects and significantly influencing the development of other programming languages.