5th Generation Project in Japan ($400M and Prolog in the '80's)

The choice of Prolog:

    The Japanese Fifth Generation project was a
    collaborative effort of the Japanese computer
    industry coordinated by the Japanese Government
    that intended not only to update the hardware
    technology of computers but alleviate the
    problems of programming by creating AI
    operating systems that would ferret out what
    the user wanted and then do it. The Project
    chose to use PROLOG as the computer language
    for the AI programming instead of the
    LISP-based programming of the American
    AI researchers.

... and eventual failure ...

    A bold 10-year effort by Japan to seize the
    lead in computer technology is fizzling to
    a close having failed to meet many of its
    ambitious goals or to produce technology
    that Japan's computer industry wanted.
    After spending $400 million on its widely
    heralded Fifth Generation computer project,
    the Japanese Government said this week that
    it was willing to give away the software
    developed by the project to anyone who
    wanted it, even foreigners.