AI might just live up to all the hype one day

If AI isn’t the most hyped technology of the 21st century, it’s certainly right up there with earlier manias for mobile, virtual reality, the internet of things, and big data. Companies large and small feel pressure to claim they use AI in some key way to drive their business. But does AI deserve this level of hype? On one end of the spectrum are the doomsayers (including heavyweights like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk) who see the technology posing an existential threat to the future of humanity. In contrast, there are those who see AI as the breakthrough that could solve many of the world’s most intractable problems.