Is Artificial Intelligence good, bad, or neither? (Part 1)

In my review about Speaker for the Dead I briefly mentioned the artificial intelligence that accompanies Ender by the name of Jane. There are so many elements to consider when thinking about A.I.; does it already exist, will it create a utopia, will we all be annihilated? Some people think it'll be the most extraordinary advance to change our lives since the industrial revolution, some think it'll be the end of humanity as we know it, others still (like myself) are optimistically cautious. Each view holds some merit, especially since Moore's law (the fact that computing power doubles every two years) has held true for over fifty years. Anything advancing that quickly demands our attention.