A number of academics and tech entrepreneurs agree: computer intelligence will one day meet and exceed human intelligence.
But almost none of them agree on what happens after that.
Movies likeTerminator, Transcendence,andThe Matrixshare the archetypal plot point that machines will enslave or kill mankind.
Theyre designed to sell tickets, not to educate or inform people.
Even the smartest science fiction isnt a textbook.
Im happy to tell you Ive actually spent lots of time with the textbooks.
After operating it for 10 years, I enjoyed a healthy exit and started investing in other AI-centered startups.
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But its not one thing, its many things.
Its a function of change over time.
you could already see the smoke if you know where to look.
Advanced AI is not on its way to ravage humanity.
Its going to inform the next era of human life, and I think that life will be good.
Your busy work will be automated
There are high-level and low-level parts to every job.
What if it was all thrill instead?
A sufficiently advanced AI system could write that report in a flash if it had enough reliable data points.
But you dont have to worry about AI replacing you at your job.
When IBM developed a high-powered chess engine that could crush the strongest human grandmaster, it didnt ruin chess.
But there are some inherent limits to this intelligence, like data retrieval.
We humans can only remember so much stuff.
Have you ever tried to remember something and the effort of remembering caused you to forget it?
This uniquely human shortcoming is called retrieval-induced inhibition, and artificial intelligence has no such limitation.
If you direct it store something, it can later find it instantly.
Popular Gmail plugin Boomerang revealed an AI toolin 2016to help the user get a response from the email recipient.
Hypothetical AI systems of the future could take this idea several steps further.
Beyond ghostwriting your emails, they might turn into something closely echoing sci-fi-style virtual assistants.
Down the road these tools might even offer advice for better interacting with family and friends in person.
I dont worry about the singularity because I dont think about it as an apocalyptic event.
We ought to call it the Augmented Age, because humans will be augmented to superhuman levels by AI.
