Will super-intelligent machines be the undoing of mankind?
Some scientists believe we are fast approaching 'the singularity', a point where computers overtake human intelligence and ultimately become sentient
Man versus machine. It's the stuff of science fiction, but some think artificially intelligent computers are improving so quickly that machine intelligence will soon overtake the human brain. Once that happens - and some think it inevitable - reality itself could alter.
That state is called "the singularity", defined not only as the point where computers become smarter than humans, but where human intelligence can be digitally stored.
Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, in his book The Singularity is Near, says that by 2045 machine intelligence will be infinitely more powerful than all human intelligence combined, and that technological development will be taken over by the machines. "There will be no distinction, post-singularity, between human and machine or between physical and virtual reality," he writes.
The singularity is a kind of transcendence beyond which nothing can ever be the same again. An intelligence far greater than any human could conduct scientific research to cure diseases, boost the efficiency of all endeavours, and, yes, save the planet. Or it could wreak havoc, waging wars and enslaving humanity.
It could prove a heaven or a dislocated and dangerous hell, but in a world where all kinds of claims are being made about artificial intelligence, it's easy to get carried away and proclaim that the age of machines is close. The evidence is everywhere. In less than a century, we've gone from calculators to supercomputer clusters. We all walk around with smartphones in our pockets that are more powerful than personal computers from just a few years ago; the law of accelerating returns is in full swing.
Automation is rampant and the so-called Internet of Things promises smart homes, self-driving cars, augmented reality, virtual assistants and everything in between. Even neural implants, 3D-printed internal organs, "smart skin" and brain-to-brain messaging (who needs WhatsApp?) is being researched. Siri, Google Now and Cortana will soon look like digital relics of a simpler time. However, the singularity is a bit of a leap from all of that. It requires a superhuman intelligence that can replace itself with something even more intelligent.