Intelligent software technologies

During the last four decades the field of artificial intelligence has made impressive progress. It is true that not all the promises generated during the enthusiasm of the early years have yet been delivered. But the fact remains that today's systems do provide impressive levels of machine intelligence. There are many examples of intelligent software systems which can match human capabilities. However, we must not fall into the trap of wanting computer systems to emulate fully human performance, for therein lie many subtle philosophical, scientific and engineering pitfalls. This paper provides a personal account of the progress of AI and offers an optimistic viewpoint.