Hi there,
The answer to your question is "yes, definitely!"
If you search Google with phrases such as "artificial intelligence" and "natural language" you will find dozens of companies offering commercial applications for AI. Many giant corporations now respond to routine e-mail and telephone inquiry using AI. And, the Ultra-Hal representative product does customer service work.
To your point about academics, under the programming forum, I've posted a sample brain that gives quizzes and scores them.
Also, please check the programming forum for a link I am going to post soon, to a "robotics" page that has lots of photographs and more links. There, you'll find currently-available AI robots that entertain at theme parks, baby-sit invalids, and can serve as home companions.
By the way, I hope that Ultra-Hal has real use and has market value; I bought it, and I thought it was a bargain! Just because I use it for entertainment and hobbyist-programming doesn't mean that it doesn't have value; look at the billions of dollars we spend on DVDs and similar forms of technology-enabled entertainment!
Sincerely,
Don
