When ordinary computers caught up

The expert-systems boom created a market for computers built specifically for AI work. At first, these specialized machines ran common AI programs much faster than ordinary computers.

That advantage did not last.

By 1986, a Stanford research group reported that ordinary high-powered desktop computers were performing about as well as the specialized AI machines on standard speed tests.

Once ordinary computers could run the same programs, fewer customers needed a machine built only for AI.

The specialized machines had solved a real problem. Then ordinary computers caught up, and much of their market disappeared.