Ascribing Artificial Intelligence to (Simpler) Machines or When AI Meets the Real World

John McCarthy’s contributions to Computer Science are legion. He is not only the father of Artificial Intelligence, but also (among other things) the originator of symbolic and functional programming (Lisp), the first to define and explore the mathematical semantics of programs, an innovator in the development of conventional programming languages (Algol), and the creator of the first timesharing operating system. McCarthy’s most important child, AI, is now no longer purely a scientific curiosity. AI (or at least something called AI) has moved out into the (commercial) world and is “making a living,” so to speak. One now hears people freely ascribing “Artificial Intelligence” to computer programs, often with little regard to the underlying intelligence of the system. In this chapter, I discuss (my understanding of) McCarthy's perspective on systems and AI and how this point of view has shaped the commercial AI market. I focus on what we have done at IntelliCorp, in product and research, both inside and outside the McCarthy tradition. I close with a few comments on where I believe the profitable confluence of theoretical and applied AI lies in the (near) future.