Although supercomputers are dazzling in their power and engineering virtuosity, hardware alone will only partly achieve the eventual goal of computer scientists: the creation of systems that can mimic the decision- making powers of human beings. This goal is called AI, for artificial intelligence, and it has eluded computer programmers for decades. Now, however, even as supercomputers open up new worlds of possibility, researchers are taking major strides toward making their machines both smarter and more versatile.
Their work has spawned a new phase of the great computer revolution that has been going on for the past 40 years or so....