A true AI will be a big, smart entity that will want to replicate itself and protect itself. It will mutate in some sense or other; copies will split off, and they’ll replicate through the Net … There’ll be no way to turn them off, because they’ll be moving through wires near the speed of light. What this means for the human species, I have no idea. I just know it has to happen.
Predictor: Epstein, Robert
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Charles Platt covers the field of artificial intelligence, interviewing Robert Epstein, founder of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. Platt writes: ”When [a true artificial-intelligence] system is created, there may be some interesting side effects. ‘A true AI will be a big, smart entity that will want to replicate itself and protect itself,’ says Epstein. ‘It will mutate in some sense or other; copies will split off, and they’ll replicate through the Net.’ Like a virus? ‘A virus is not a good analogy. Viruses are incredibly stupid. They’re barely alive. A better analogy is an alien intelligence that lands here and tells us it’s going to live with us, and we have to adjust. There’ll be no way to turn them off, because they’ll be moving through wires near the speed of light. What this means for the human species, I have no idea. I just know it has to happen.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Intelligent Agents/AI
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: What’s it Mean to Be Human, Anyway? Charles Platt Reports on the Latest Battle to Determine the Most Human Computer, Even as He Worries That He May be the Least Human Human
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.04/turing_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney