{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T18:28:23Z","timestamp":1767637703857,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Maximum Academic Press","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2009,7,7]],"date-time":"2009-07-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1246924800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":6793,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["The Knowledge Engineering Review"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1990,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>It is a common Establishment practice in the UK to ask an expert, recognized for his\/her sound views, to give a view on controversial matters of public interest. There are recent examples in such varied fields as accounting standards, export credits, and microgravity. Administrations\u2014for all the current fashion for \u201cbuilt-in evaluation\u201d\u2014have no time or inclination to take a look backwards at these autographs. In this paper the author, who was a civil servant, and has worked for ten years as a consultant, including two years in the European Commission, considers, with the help of hindsight, the Lighthill Report of 1972 on AI.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>This review implies making judgements about the progress of AI which cannot help being contentious. First, there will be disagreements about judgements, or even assertions\u2014the author cannot claim authority over the whole field, unless as a voyeur; there may be important developments he has failed to take account of. Second, there will be arguments that Lighthill was to an extent self-fulfilling\u2014that is, that there would have been more advance if some aspects of AI had not been checked at his advice. Third, it will be said that it takes time to work up a new computational concept\u2014or any other new thing.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>However, whatever the reservations, the main conclusion put forward is that there was an element of over-optimism about AI in general which Lighthill had reason to castigate. In directing his comments to the utility of AI in specific fields Lighthill got some things wrong, but, on balance\u2014which is not easy to strike\u2014probably more things right than wrong.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Extrapolating to the present day the writer questions whether, in the UK after Alvey, and not least in Japan, resources are not being expended on AI objectives which are intellectually stimulating but remain too far from the application's sharp end; and therefore whether there is still not too much \u201cjam tomorrow\u201d about AI. Whether or not this questioning is judged to be wrongheaded, perhaps it will prove useful to have stirred discussion on the subject.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s026988890000549x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,7,7]],"date-time":"2009-07-07T09:35:30Z","timestamp":1246959330000},"page":"265-276","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Lighthill 17 years on"],"prefix":"10.48130","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Martin","family":"Lam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"27968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2009,7,7]]},"container-title":["The Knowledge Engineering Review"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S026988890000549X","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T14:42:13Z","timestamp":1767624133000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S026988890000549X\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1990,12]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1990,12]]}},"alternative-id":["S026988890000549X"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s026988890000549x","relation":{},"ISSN":["0269-8889","1469-8005"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0269-8889"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1469-8005"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1990,12]]}}}