Artificial Intelligence

What are your thoughts on AI?

This is an area that I am definitely weaker on. I am familiar with some of the basic arguments on both sides but I'm sure at least a few of you have a much better understanding of it than I.

Is Artificial General Intelligence plausibly going to appear in the near future? Could we conceivably create a conscious, self-aware machine? How would we know for sure that we had?

What steps should we take to insure that we don't create a sufficiently powerful AI, conscious or not, that is hostile or indifferent to human well-being? I found Eliezer Yudkowsky's AI-box experiment fascinating and troubling.

Of course, you may not think that AGI is realistic or concerning at all. If so, what leads you to believe that? And should we proceed as though it is both achievable and a potential threat so that we are prepared?

Of course AI (both strong and weak) raises many far reaching questions beyond existential ones. Will AI and automation create massive unemployment and how should we deal with this? How would we deal with the massive wealth inequality that would likely occur? Should we have any ethical concern for the AI we create? I'm sure there are many other concerns that could be raised.