Is AI research headed in the right direction?

This article is part of Demystifying AI, a series of posts that (try to) disambiguate the jargon and myths surrounding artificial intelligence. In 1956, researchers at Dartmouth College coined the term "artificial intelligence," a field of science that aims to enable machines to replicate the capabilities of the human mind. AI pioneers believed at the time that in short time, "machines will be capable… of doing any work a man can do." For decades, AI scientists and researchers have been trying to recreate the logic and functionalities of the human brain. And for decades, they have dismayed themselves and the general public.