Behind Artificial Intelligence, a Squadron of Bright Real People

Nice NYT article on A.I.

This leap was possible, in large part, because researchers are moving from an approach that relied principally on logic and rule-based systems to more probability or statistics-oriented software technologies.
...
Until recently, progress in artificial intelligence lagged so far behind computing technology that some in the field talked about an "A.I. winter," after commercial and government funding evaporated in the mid-1980's.

Now there is talk about an A.I. spring among researchers like Sebastian Thrun, the director of the Stanford lab.

Behind Artificial Intelligence, a Squadron of Bright Real People - New York Times