Winter is Coming: Cycles of Boom and Bust (1970s-1990s)

The initial enthusiasm collided with harsh reality in the 1970s. Limitations in computing power, memory constraints, and the inherent complexity of human-like reasoning led to what became known as the "AI Winter" — a period of reduced funding and diminished interest in AI research. The field would experience multiple such cycles of boom and bust over the decades, with excitement peaking around expert systems in the 1980s before another winter set in during the 1990s. These periods of disillusionment were crucial, however, as they encouraged researchers to refine their approaches and develop more mathematically grounded methods.