Ray Kurzweil's AI predictions feel strikingly familiar today

Back when artificial intelligence was still poorly understood outside research labs, Ray Kurzweil was already frustrated with how narrowly it was being discussed. In a 1991 interview with Computerworld, he pushed back forcefully against claims that AI had failed to live up to its promise.

“That’s unfair, because every time we master a particular area of AI, it ceases to be considered AI. It’s just like a magic trick — when you know how it’s done, it’s no longer magic,” he said, adding, “Take machine vision, for example, which today [in 1991] is a $300 million business. People don’t consider that AI, but it is part of AI.”

Kurzweil argued that public expectations were skewed not by failure, but by familiarity.

“People ...