Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of digital computers or robots to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The idea of AI has its origins in ancient Greece but the field began in the 1950s. Today, AI is used in applications like IBM's Watson, driverless cars, automated assembly lines, surgical robots, and traffic control systems. The future of AI depends on whether researchers can achieve human-level or superhuman intelligence through techniques like whole brain emulation. Critics argue key challenges remain in replicating general human intelligence and consciousness with technology.