If it works, it's no longer AI
Published: March 13, 2026
Last update: May 21, 2026
The Key Points in Brief
This famous quote comes from one of the founding fathers of AI research, John McCarthy. It remains just as relevant more than 50 years later.
The hype surrounding AI in Germany is growing ever larger. Many people are asking themselves: Will software with its own consciousness, an artificial intelligence, actually exist in the near future? Or are the success stories merely a product of the current hype?
The clear answer is: neither!
No other software technology is currently as underestimated and overestimated as AI. Why?
We love magic! Although we know that real magic doesn't exist, we attend the numerous shows millions of times. When the supposed magic behind the scenes is revealed to be simple mechanics, we are very disappointed. Deep down, we humans have a longing for real magic.
It is very similar with artificial intelligence: wehave always and in all cultures been fascinated bythe idea of intelligent machines, an artificial intelligence, whether good or evil. But when we realize that the seemingly magical effect of AI is basically just based on mathematics, our disappointment is great. We secretly dream of more.
What AI can already do today
The goals of the field ofartificial intelligence, which was founded back in 1956, would probably be described today asmoonshot thinking: the idea of being able to create something completely new and revolutionary.
However, the successes achieved so far are quite remarkable and have already had a lasting impact on our everyday lives and software development. Be it chess computers, search engines, vehicle configurators, recommendation algorithms, spam filters, business rules or even navigation systems: Objectively speaking, all of these are (partial) results of AI research. Unlike at the time of their development, nobody would describe them as intelligent today.
All of these technologies have long since arrived inthe computer science mainstream. In addition to the SIMULA-67 programming language,Marvin Minsky's thoughts on FRAMES from his 1974 articleA Framework for Representing Knowledge certainly form the basis for the later success of object orientation and many object-oriented programming languages.
The future of artificial intelligence
Theneural networks that are so topical and much discussed today essentially go back to a work byMcCulloch and Pitts from 1943(!). They already experienced a heyday in the 1990s and are now ubiquitous in our homes, cars and factories - mostly already implemented in hardware - and have since been disguised as control technology.
The new neural and data-driven algorithms are now clearly superior to humans in terms of performance in some disciplines. These processes - like all their predecessors - are here to stay. They will change our software and perhaps even dominate its development.
But no matter what name we use to describe the variety of knowledge-based, data-driven and learning algorithms in our software in the future, true "artificial intelligence" in the sense of theoriginal definition from 1956 or theTuring Test from 1950 is still a long way off.
Artificial intelligence continues to be an abbreviation for "future computer science" in the spirit of John McCarthy and remains - as it was in the 1960s - an important driver and thought leader in software technology. As the past clearly shows us, this is "revolution" enough.
Conclusion
AI is neither magic nor disappointment — but one of the most powerful driving forces in software development of recent decades. Many technologies that are taken for granted today are direct results of AI research. Those who look at AI with a clear head will recognize: the real revolution does not lie in the distant future, but has long since become embedded in our everyday lives — even if we no longer perceive it there as magic.
Empolis
