AI researchers began to develop and use sophisticated mathematical tools more than they ever had in the past . There was a widespread realization that many of the problems that AI needed to solve was already being worked on by researchers in fields like mathematics , economics or operations research . The shared mathematical language allowed both a higher level of collaboration with more established and successful fields and the achievement of results which was measurable and provable ; AI had become a more rigorous " scientific " discipline . Russell & Norvig ( 2003 ) describe this as nothing less than a " revolution " and " the victory of the neats " .