So you are misusing the term yourself : any kind of software is AI, or even any kind of machine. (That's why the term AI is best to be avoided altogether, except maybe in psychology - think "Turing test".)
Artificial neural networks implemented on software/hardware have been around since 1958, though they didn't have much success... maybe except in research and video games (already in 1970s-1980s) ? Most of game AI today *still* is "if-then" statements, as well as countless AI expert systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_effect
So you are misusing the term yourself : any kind of software is AI, or even any kind of machine. (That's why the term AI is best to be avoided altogether, except maybe in psychology - think "Turing test".)
Artificial neural networks implemented on software/hardware have been around since 1958, though they didn't have much success... maybe except in research and video games (already in 1970s-1980s) ? Most of game AI today *still* is "if-then" statements, as well as countless AI expert systems.
Machine learning is at least as old, and does not necessarily involve neural networks. Its successes are also older than AlphaGo : https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/01/skynet-meets-the-swarm-how-the-berkeley-overmind-won-the-2010-starcraft-ai-competition/ (And this is a *late* example.)
(Of course using humans "inside" your machine and claiming it to be "AI" is on a whole other level of "fraud".)