Artificial intelligence (AI) has woven itself into the fabric of our daily existence, often in ways that are subtle yet transformative. Far from the grandiose visions of omnipotent machines that rival human intellect in every domain, AI’s real-world applications thrive in the realm of the practical, the incremental, and the quietly revolutionary. When John McCarthy, a pioneer of AI, passed away in 2011, he left behind a legacy tinged with both ambition and frustration. He famously quipped that a breakthrough toward “strong AI”—a system capable of general, human-like reasoning—might take anywhere from five to 500 years. McCarthy’s gaze was fixed on a distant summit, and he lamented what he saw as a lack of daring among his peers. In a 2006 reflection, he critiqued the field’s narrower pursuits, pointing to the Deep Blue chess program that bested Garry Kasparov as an example. While a marvel of engineering, Deep Blue lacked the capacity for self-awareness or abstract reasoning—unable, as McCarthy noted, to articulate something as simple yet profound as, “I am a chess program, and I evaluate a chaotic sprawl of moves a human would dismiss outright,” let alone derive meaning from such a statement. For McCarthy, this was emblematic of a broader timidity, a settling for specialized triumphs over the pursuit of a grander, more elusive intelligence.

Yet, to measure AI’s impact solely against the yardstick of strong AI is to miss the forest for the trees. The absence of a machine that can match humanity’s boundless adaptability does not equate to stagnation. Instead, AI has flourished in the interstices of modern life, reshaping how we interact with the world through a constellation of “narrow” yet astonishingly effective systems. Consider the virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, which parse our spoken commands with an eerie precision, learning our quirks and preferences over time. These are not sentient beings, but their ability to anticipate our needs hints at a deeper kind of ingenuity—one that doesn’t require consciousness to be useful. Elsewhere, automated stock-trading algorithms execute split-second decisions that outpace human intuition, navigating the turbulent seas of global markets with a cold, calculated grace. Online platforms like Amazon and eBay deploy recommendation engines that sift through vast troves of data to whisper, “This is what you didn’t know you wanted,” often with unsettling accuracy. Even the humble Roomba, scooting across our floors, embodies AI’s quiet evolution—its sensors and algorithms adapting to the chaos of a lived-in space, optimizing its path with each pass.

Beyond these consumer-facing marvels, AI’s reach extends into domains less visible but no less profound. In healthcare, machine learning models analyze medical imaging to detect anomalies—cancerous cells or fractured bones—with a precision that rivals, and sometimes surpasses, human experts. In agriculture, AI-driven systems monitor soil conditions and weather patterns, guiding farmers to plant and harvest with an efficiency that could stave off famine in a warming world. Advertising, too, has been revolutionized: software now crafts hyper-targeted campaigns, profiling us not just as individuals but as shifting bundles of desires and habits, all inferred from the digital footprints we leave behind. These applications may lack the philosophical depth McCarthy yearned for, but their cumulative effect is nothing short of a redefinition of human capability.

What unites these examples is not a singular leap toward a godlike intellect, but a mosaic of purpose-built intelligences—each a master of its own narrow domain. This is not the AI of science fiction, wrestling with existential questions or challenging humanity’s dominion. It is something humbler, yet more immediate: a tool that amplifies our potential, often by excelling at tasks we find mundane or insurmountable. McCarthy’s dissatisfaction stemmed from a belief that AI should aspire to more than this—to transcend the utilitarian and grapple with the essence of thought itself. And perhaps one day it will. But for now, the AI we have is not a failure of ambition; it is a testament to pragmatism, a bridge between the possible and the once-unimaginable, quietly reshaping the world one small, brilliant step at a time.