AI's greatest trends and controversies

The transition to the next millennium gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past and project the future. In this spirit, we have asked a set of distinguished scholars and practitioners who were involved in AI's formative stages to describe the most notable trend or controversy (or nontrend or noncontroversy) during AI's development. The responses provide an interesting characterization of AI-and, in many ways, of the people of AI. We gave our contributors a great deal of flexibility in the nature of their responses. Some provided grand summaries of the history of the field as a whole. Others commented insightfully on more focused topics. Some observed changes and changed along with them. Others are still making advances on research agendas articulated presciently long ago. Some are optimistic. Others are pessimistic. Despite the range, both individually and collectively they provide insights into where we have been and where we are going. Although each contribution is a unique expression of its author's glimpse back through AI's development, there is repetition of important themes that are at the discipline's core. The article serves as an interesting record of where AI is today, as well as setting the stage for what's to come.