AI: Where did it come from, where will it go?

Artificial intelligence is a topic that's been discussed for decades, but it's an industry still very much in its infancy - we're only seeing the beginning of its capabilities. There are areas where AI has become heavily relied upon - such as algorithmic trading - but, in general, the broad adoption of the technology is still marginal. As an industry, it's a toddler you could say, but we're at a point in time where we can expect to see it grow up - and fast. There have been notable achievements and breakthroughs throughout the years which we can look at to get a better understanding of where AI is at today. First came expert systems that were adopted in the 70s and 80s for use in our cars, PCs, and other forms of manufacturing, but which failed dramatically when applied to fields such as healthcare, so hit a barrier in terms of their exponential adoption.