The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been marked by several transformative phases, each driven by advances in technology, theory, and application. Here is an advanced-level discussion of how AI has evolved and where it is heading: 1. Early Foundations (1940s–1950s): Birth of Concepts Alan Turing proposed the idea of a “universal machine” and the Turing Test, laying the theoretical groundwork. The field formally began in 1956 at the Dartmouth Conference, where the term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined. Early systems like Logic Theorist and General Problem Solver focused on symbolic reasoning. 2. Symbolic AI (1950s–1980s): Rule-Based Systems Dominated by expert systems like MYCIN and DENDRAL. AI relied heavily on manually encoded knowledge and logic rules. Limitations: Inflexibility, difficulty scaling, and poor performance with ambiguous data. 3. The AI Winters (1970s & 1980s): Periods of Disillusionment Funding dried up due to inflated expectations and underwh...