The Technological Singularity

by Murray Shanahan

A more palatable strategy would be to provide the very best living conditions for the AIs, and to reward them for doing their jobs well. As with a human workforce, this policy is likely to be most productive in the long run, is less dangerous, and raises fewer ethical issues. Taking this liberal approach to its limit, we can imagine a sufficiently human-like AI being given the same legal status and the same rights as a human. At the same time it would acquire moral responsibilities and would be subject to the law like any person. Perhaps the eventual result would be a society in which biological and artificial intelligence coexisted harmoniously, as envisaged in the Culture novels of Iain Banks. This vision of the future has considerable appeal. If the transition from human-level AI to superintelligence is inevitable, then it would be a good idea to ensure that artificial intelligence inherits basic human motives and values. These might include intellectual curiosity, the drive to create, to explore, to improve, to progress. But perhaps the value we should inculcate in AI above all others is compassion toward others, toward all sentient beings, as Buddhists say. And despite humanity’s failings—our war-like inclinations, our tendency to perpetuate inequality, and our occasional capacity for cruelty—these values do seem to come to the fore in times of abundance. So the more human-like an AI is, the more likely it will be to embody the same values, and the more likely it is t...