Design and intelligent machines

Abstract

Various leading figures have recently been warning that the future of humanity is threatened by the rise of artificial intelligence or by superintelligent - even self-aware - machines of our own design. These forebodings envision machines that, in the pursuit of their own goals, ultimately dominate or extinguish their creators. But while much ink has been spilled on the prospect of manufacturing monsters beyond our control, surprisingly little attention has been focused on the actual challenge of designing machines that seamlessly integrate even a few of our leading technologies into a smoothly operating everyday device, much less create a self-aware, internally motivated, hegemonistic intelligence.