Another AI winter could usher in a dark period for artificial intelligence

Humans have been pondering the potential of artificial intelligence for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks believed, for example, that a bronze automaton named Talos protected the island of Crete from maritime adversaries. But AI only moved from the mythical realm to the real world in the last half-century, beginning with legendary computer scientist Alan Turing's foundational 1950 essay asked and provided a framework for answering the provocative question, "Can machines think?" At that time, the United States was in the midst of the Cold War. Congressional representatives decided to invest heavily in artificial intelligence as part of a larger security strategy.