Is Artificial Intelligence Possible? - DZone AI

This rather ostentatious remark made by Marvin Minsky, co-founder of the world-famous MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was referring to the fact that researchers have been primarily concerned with small facets of machine intelligence as opposed to looking at the problem as a whole. This article examines the contemporary issues of artificial intelligence (AI) and looks at the current status of the AI field together with potent arguments provided by leading experts to illustrate whether AI is an impossible concept to obtain. Because of the scope and ambition, artificial intelligence defies simple definition. Initially, AI was defined as "the science of making machines do things that would require intelligence if done by men." This somewhat meaningless definition shows how AI is still a young discipline -- and similar early definitions have been shaped by the technological and theoretical progress made on the subject.