What is AI, anyway?

AI is making the headlines these days, from warnings about it being an ingredient to humanity's extinction to praise concerning the new technical possibilities it might bring in the near future. But the current discussion is lacking a realistic view on what AI is and what it is not. Despite this, expectations for the technology are exceptionally high. The reasons for this heightened attention in the public are achievements such as AI beating chess or Go world champions or autonomous cars. This AI breakthrough is a result of the exponential increase in computing power and – even more importantly – data.