Why is AI such an impossible goal?

[Morningside]

Lots of android/robot programmes around lately and I wondered why AI as been such an impossible goal? Each year some scientist predicts "AI in the next 20 years" but here were are...nothing!

I know that we have limited 'intelligence' with Siri and Google but nothing you could clearly communicate with and IBMs Watson was an amazing achievement and well beyond everything to date but still it could not ask about its own existence.

I know something like chess was thought to be that impossible task due to the complexities of the game and it also appears that "GO" (I think) has now been done but these are games by strict rules and it would never break out and become sentient.

In the past of the 1950's and '60s we have tried to build a brain but is that really the way to do it? Not really talking about a conscious life but more of a realist Turing test I suppose.

Suppose if we knew the answer to this then the goal would be achieved.

Greetings, Professor Falken.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

[Morningside]

otolith said:

The machine that plays Go is a significant advance on chess playing machines because you can't just use brute force the way you can in chess. Too many possibilities.

We don't have general AI yet, but we are getting closer.

What/who is the latest best AI so far?

[Morningside]

Some good points raised here.

I was watching an ant type thing crawling along the bathroom floor this morning and thought does it have any idea where it is? Does it see me as a huge giant? Does it feel hunger or sorrow? Or is it just a simple chemical robot that does simple tasks that look conscious?

I mean the creature would have a very, very small brain with not many internal connections.