I must admit DrEvil that I have only a brief knowledge of how graphics are visualized.....but you made an interesting point!
The Programmer after what ever he/she coded always finds him/her-self revolving about one major point....The Limit of computational resources!
But with the present Phenomena of transfering the Graphic Visualiztion Process from the Cpu to the ever more powerful getting VGA..
Coders are gonna be able to clear the cpu to implement more kick ass AI , Hurray
but till that Time we should - if we want better AI - distribute the whole processing over networks , I think players of Internet based Games like the World of Warcraft
would definitly benefit from it , Since the opponents
whether human or otherwise are already playing on external machines.