Abstract :
Since the beginning of the use of technology to support training and learning
there has always been the belief that such new technologies would be able to
add value either by reducing costs or increasing effectiveness. The 1980s and
early 1990s were a period of enormous optimism as to the promise that such
technology could bring. The governments of Europe and the US were generous
in their funding of research in this area. In Europe research and development
programmes such as ESPRIT, DELTA, RACE, ERASMUS and COMETT, to name
only a few, funded a wealth of initiatives aimed at advancing the use of technology.
At the margins of the early initiatives was the belief that AI must have
a part to play in these developments. This paper reviews the early initiatives
and suggests reasons why the potential for the use of AI in education and
training has never been truly fulfilled
