> Given Moore's law, I'd be surprised if we ever see another AI summer after the current one peters out.
On the other hand, the article notes that today's AI Summer gets its funding from a constant stream of profitable applications (though less dramatic than the blue-sky hype). The field is less reliant on animal spirits of academia, and has a more reliable source of funding.
I still think things like self-driving cars are far in the future, but we're at a point where ongoing research into e.g. machine vision can be funded by less safety-critical commercial applications.
Expert systems had industry funding in the 80s. And contrary to what some people here keep implying, they delivered results. Some of them are still used right now.
On the other hand, the article notes that today's AI Summer gets its funding from a constant stream of profitable applications (though less dramatic than the blue-sky hype). The field is less reliant on animal spirits of academia, and has a more reliable source of funding.
I still think things like self-driving cars are far in the future, but we're at a point where ongoing research into e.g. machine vision can be funded by less safety-critical commercial applications.