[capableweb]

> Really, where is this enthusiasm around ML coming from?

Same as most other "enthusiasm" in this industry: HYPE!

Everything from self-driving to machine learning, TypeScript, React, Containers and everything in between is driven by hype, that is usually supported by huge companies investing in marketing to create said hype. Once the ball is rolling, it'll keep on rolling until people realize they got got, then we all move on to something else to hype. Rinse and repeat.

[mojuba]

Agreed though probably not with everything in your list, but it is true that it's the hype, typically originating from the executives of giant corporations that are capable of buying small startups in bulk. That's the source of some good things and some bullshit too. Then the investors follow suit, fund startups that can be potentially acquired and it doesn't even matter to them whether the thing works or not.

[mdp2021]

Hype to some - but without any hype, ANN are entities that show huge potential, are a still fresh, explored only for a fragment territory after so many decades, and present very intriguing mysteries in the translation between a network snapshot and the encoded knowledge.

So, an area fully deserving interest.

Of course the enthusiasm brings a lot of unduly expectation, unfruitful trial and errors etc. - just normal expectable accompaniments. They are not the most important phenomenon, unless the interest is posed for the wrong reasons (industrial implementations pretending the technology is a universal solution).

By the way: "hype cycles" have occurred many times in the history of AI. All experience for collection.