What you learned in school
Computer science classes in the 1960s predicted that artificial intelligence would exceed human intelligence across all domains by 1980. Students learned about imminent computer consciousness and machines that would think better than humans. Textbooks described AI as rapidly approaching human-level intelligence with predictions of superintelligent computers within two decades. The optimism assumed that early AI successes would quickly scale to general intelligence, underestimating the complexity of human cognition.
What we know now
Computer science classes in the 1960s predicted that artificial intelligence would exceed human intelligence across all domains by 1980. Students learned about imminent computer consciousness and superhuman AI capabilities. AI development has been much slower and more specialized than predicted. While AI excels in specific domains like chess, image recognition, and language processing, general artificial intelligence that matches human cognitive flexibility remains elusive. The challenges of creating truly intelligent machines were underestimated, and progress has been incremental rather than revolutionary.