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@julia @thomasfuchs I admit that I may indeed be missing the mark completely, but the idea that deep learning models will one day operate without human intervention rather than serve as useful software tools no longer seems plausible. The first pocket calculators were predicted to revolutionize business and end our mental capacity to perform basic calculations unaided. They turned out to be a fair bit better than slide rulers or pen-and-paper, but they didn't really change the course of civilization.

I don't think that we are near the limit of progress at all, but much of the public discourse seems to be bracing for a pan-industrial revolution that will alter the shape of our society. Some technologies do that: telephones, automobiles, home internet, smart phones. I'm unconvinced that AI (deep learning) will be in that class.