{"id":213644,"date":"2026-02-15T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/in-1983-bill-gates-turned-away-from-ai-hype-and-championed-softer-software-that-adapted-to-users-needs\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T01:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:55:07","slug":"in-1983-bill-gates-turned-away-from-ai-hype-and-championed-softer-software-that-adapted-to-users-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/in-1983-bill-gates-turned-away-from-ai-hype-and-championed-softer-software-that-adapted-to-users-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"In 1983, Bill Gates turned away from AI hype and championed \u201csofter software\u201d that adapted to users’ needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1983, Bill Gates turned away from AI hype and championed \u201csofter software\u201d that adapted to users’ needs<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/the-next-big-lemming-like-rush-will-be-to-artificial-intelligence-while-1985-was-hailed-as-the-year-of-ai-bill-gates-ignored-the-hype-to-focus-on-softer-software<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-15 01:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.techradar.com<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2026, artificial intelligence is everywhere -it writes code, creates images, generates audio and video, analyzes contracts and runs customer support desks. Tech giants compete over model sizes and training data the way carmakers once boasted about horsepower.<\/p>\n

Startups promise autonomous agents that will run your business for you. Regulators worry about safety and workers about relevance.<\/p>\n

And yet, in 1985 – at the dawn of the PC era – some of the industry\u2019s sharpest observers were already warning that AI might be \u201cthe most despised and abused [software concept] of the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Awaiting AI Hype<\/h2>\n

That line came from Mitch Kapor, chairman of Lotus Development, speaking at the January 1985 Personal Computer Forum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next big lemming-like rush will be to artificial intelligence,\u201d he said. \u201cSo in a perverse way, AI is an exciting opportunity for people who recognize what it can do for customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The February 25, 1985 editorial in InfoWorld, titled \u201cAwaiting AI Hype, Promise,\u201d now reads like a dispatch from the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill 1985 be the year when artificial intelligence finally emerges from the ivory towers of academia to become a useful tool?\u201d James E. Fawcette, the magazine\u2019s Editorial Director & Associate Publisher pondered. “Software companies desperate for new hooks to lure jaded users tired of the parade of me-too spreadsheets and word processors see artificial intelligence, or AI, as a possible savior.”<\/p>\n

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!<\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

The editorial\u2019s core anxiety could have been written about 2023\u2019s generative AI boom: \u201cThe problem is: What can AI really do? Even the words artificial intelligence are a barrier to the technology\u2019s application. They are so value- and image-laden that the term itself obstructs practical work.\u201d AI, Fawcette warned, conjured \u201cthinking machines, complete with Big Brother…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1983, Bill Gates turned away from AI hype and championed \u201csofter software\u201d that adapted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/mhghcVT3t8x87zGUiYCZK7-2000-80.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-213644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-generative-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213646,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213644\/revisions\/213646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}