His main takeaway: "This is an unsettled field. Why it matters: The embryonic state in which Ford found AI -- so early in its development more than a half-century after its birth that the basics are still up for grabs -- suggests how far it has to go before reaching maturity. On his blog, Brooks has said that AI is only 1% of the way toward human intelligence. The big picture: Research in the field has progressed in fits and starts since the term "artificial intelligence" was coined in the 1950s by American computer scientist John McCarthy, alternating between periods of hibernation and feverish activity. Kurzweil, Google's director of engineering, stands out on many fronts, Ford says.