While I'm reluctant to say these paths are a "dead end", this reminded me of an interview to Yann LeCun[0] from a while ago. I think you might want to read it,

While I'm reluctant to say these paths are a "dead end", this reminded me of an interview to Yann LeCun[0] from a while ago. I think you might want to read it, he sort of shared your view. However, deep neural networks are an extremely valuable and resourceful tool, when used against the real set of problems they solve. Basically, what I think is happening with the NY Times (and press in general) regarding AI is one of the first questions that he is asked. "Your editor is not gonna like that" -- press goes for flashy and shiny announcements that are really far from what is really happening. And because marketing and funding, some researchers back that kind of announcements and say "Yeah! We've built a robot that smiles!". I'm not saying androids and robotics are not valuable research, I'm saying that people missinterpret and mistake many things for AI and expect a poet robot that can talk like Shakespear, and mean and feel the emotional component of its words. Not gonna happen soon. [0] http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/facebook-ai-director-yann-lecun-on-deep-learning http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intel...