Al's greatest trends and controversies

The transition to the ne,vt millennium gives us an opportunity to reflect o n the past and project the future. In this spirit, we have asked a set of d istinguished scholars rind practitioners who were involved in AI's formativ e stages to describe, in just a few paragraphs, the most notable trend or c ontroversy (or nontrend or noncontroversy) during AI's development. The responses provide an interesting characterization of AI-and, in many wa ys, of the people of AI. We gave our contributors a great deal of flexibili ty in the nature of their responses. Some provided rand summaries of the hi story of the field as a whole. Others commented insightfully on more focuse d topics. Some observed changes and changed along with them. Others are sti ll making advances on research agendas articulated presciently long ago. So me are optimistic. Others are pessimistic. Despite the ranger both individu ally and collectively they provide insights into where we have been and whe re we are going. Although each contribution is a unique expression or its author's glimpse b ack through AI's development, we are pleased to see the repetition of impor tant themes that are at our discipline's core. Rather than simply presentin g this as a list of contributor sound bites, we are instead weaving them in to a narrative that showcases these themes as we go along. We hope this fir st Trends & Controversies of 2000 will serve as an interesting record of wh ere AI is today, plus set the stage for what's to come.