Dan Q’s humorous essay argues that artificial intelligence reached its peak with Taco Bot 3000, a walking, talking, taco-dispensing robot associated with the Raining Tacos universe. The author links the character to a 2014 prototype, while noting that Taco Bot’s song appeared in 2019. The central argument is deliberately playful, but the post also questions how narrowly AI should be defined. It points to historical examples including the 1914 El Ajedrecista, the 1940 Nimatron, the Ising Model, mid-century chess programs, and ELIZA in 1965 to show that AI has long covered many kinds of rule-based, computational, and conversational behavior. On that broad interpretation, the author considers Taco Bot a legitimate form of “artificial taco intelligence.” The post also says the Raining Tacos saga concluded in April after 14 years and nine short songs, with a director’s cut released the previous month.
