Aimed at the computer-literate person wishing to find out about the reality of exploiting the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in practical, maintainable software systems, this text tries to avoid the hype usually associated with the subject. Instead, it presents the realities, the problems, the current state of the art, and future directions. Throughout, the reader will find a comprehensive and coherent examination of the many problems that engineering AI software involves, as well as a consideration of the alternative routes to solution of these problems.