Recently, American author, futurist, philosopher, transhumanist, and 2016 presidential hopeful, Zoltan Istvan, wrote an article about the global arms race to create a superintelligent AI. With recent news of Google’s bio inspired AI beating 49 retro video games, we can see AI developing at a rate that is alarmingly fast. Some are saying, with enough resources, we can see this superintelligence in about 10 to 20 years.
This should be cause for some serious evaluation of humanity’s role in the future. What will AI become? Will it take on human traits, both faults and strengths? Will AI ever love and respect humans? Will AI ever develop a self awareness? Some feel this is a matter of time, some feel it’ll never happen. Either way, AI is definitely on the horizon. Politically speaking, Istvan brings up some valid concerns for global development and national security. The main point being, who is going to develop and release this technology first? This is a major concern because it, not only sets a precedence for what uses it would be employing, but it would also set a superpower arms/superintelligence race for domination.