Each and every one of us has a little to contribute towards AI. Be it Marrs (or Motters) theory of compuational vision or Mc Kerrows beliefs about touch and smell. I've done some work based on David L Heisermanns adaptive intelligence and I'm sure others have done just as much if not more. This science is developing slowly and surely and will eventually be a major aspect of computer design. People only complain about it because they don't understand it...

And if people do understand it, they are not impressed by it anymore so it's no longer called AI. I think AI was overhyped in the 60's and 70's and still suffers the wrath of disappointment by the "masses".

AI (like any maturing field) is branching out to a multitude of areas: machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, planning, etc. are all differentiated areas within computer science and robotics.

To repeat a point already stated: when something is solved, the mystery is lost, and it isn't considered AI. Machine Chess is a perfect example. Current Machine GO "takes human intelligence to master", but not for long.

That said, when I started studying computer science in 1999, I thought AI was right around the corner. Then I learned how hard the problems are, and was disappointed with the state of the industry.

While people might label AI as the unfulfilled dream, movies, video games, and other media have held fairly consistent in stressing the inevitable rise of AI. Unfortunately, it is often portrayed in a negative light, which will yield a good deal of friction as we move forward.