The paper follows the path that AI has taken since its beginnings until the brink of the third millennium. New areas, such as Agents, have sprout; other subjects (Learning) have diminished. Areas have separated (Vision, Image Processing) and became independent, self-standing. Some areas have acquired formality and rigor (Vision). Important problems (Spelling, Chess) have been solved. Other problems (Disambiguation) are almost solved or about to be solved. Many challenges (Natural language translation) still remain. A few parts of the near future are sketched through predictions: important problems about to be solved, and the relation of specific AI areas with other areas of Computer Science.