Update: readers of the post have also pointed out this critique by Ernest Davis and this response to Davis by Rob Bensinger. Update 2: Both Rob Bensinger and Michael Tetelman rightly pointed out that my intelligence definition was sloppily defined. I've added a clarification that the defintion is'for a given task'. This post is a discussion of Nick Bostrom's book "Superintelligence". The book has had an effect on the thinking of many of the world's thought leaders. In that light, and given this series of blog posts is about the "Future of AI", it seemed important to read the book and discuss his ideas. In an ideal world, this post would certainly have contained more summaries of the books arguments and perhaps a later update will improve on that aspect. For the moment the review focuses on counter-arguments and perceived omissions (the post already got too long with just covering those). Bostrom considers various routes we have to forming intelligent machines and what the possible outcomes might be from developing such technologies. He is a professor of philosophy but has an impressive array of background degrees in areas such as mathematics, logic, philosophy and computational neuroscience. So let's start at the beginning and put the book in context by trying to understand what is meant by the term "superintelligence" In common with many contributions to the debate on artificial intelligence, Bostrom never defines what he means by intelligence. Obviously, this can be problematic. On the other hand, superintelligence is defined as outperforming humans in every intelligent capability that they express.

The robot will take its exams in a closed room without anyone else present, except for proctors and a notary.

Some AI proponents argue that Artificial Intelligence will usurp human intelligence or even make us obsolete. That kind of talk must stop, before we lose control of AI. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the leading Internet trends of 2016, particularly with large companies like Google and Facebook pouring resources into it. While there are many benefits to AI -- for example, Facebook using it to make our news feeds smarter -- the hype is getting hubristic. I'm particularly concerned about the language AI proponents are using.

Researchers recently demonstrated how an informatics-based adaptive design strategy, tightly coupled to experiments, can accelerate the discovery of new materials with targeted properties, according to a recent paper published in Nature Communications. "What we've done is show that, starting with a relatively small data set of well-controlled experiments, it is possible to iteratively guide subsequent experiments toward finding the material with the desired target," said Turab Lookman, a physicist and materials scientist in the Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Lookman is the principal investigator of the research project. "Finding new materials has traditionally been guided by intuition and trial and error," said Lookman."But with increasing chemical complexity, the combination possibilities become too large for trial-and-error approaches to be practical." To address this, Lookman, along with his colleagues at Los Alamos and the State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials in China, employed machine learning to speed up the process. They developed a framework that uses uncertainties to iteratively guide the next experiments to be performed in search of a shape-memory alloy with very low thermal hysteresis (or dissipation).

Venue Sponsor: WeWork - "WeWork is the platform for creators. We provide the workspace, community, and services you need to make a life, not just a living.

SeaDrone, the underwater robot coming out of a new company founded by two Stanford AI lab veterans, is aiming to make fish farming a lot easier--particularly for smaller aquaculture operations--by making underwater inspection cheaper and easier. The ocean ROV's story is not an unusual one for Silicon Valley: two Stanford students meet over a lab bench, get an idea that something they'd been tinkering around with for their themselves could be turned into a product and the basis of a company. It's a story Silicon Valley loves. Eduardo Moreno met Shuyun Chung in the Stanford AI lab in 2013. Moreno, in the thick of his studies for a master's degree in mechanical engineering, was working on underwater robot hardware in collaboration with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

Belgian prime minster Charles Michel's recent drive to promote the country as a positive place for investment is understandable after recent terrorist activity in Brussels, but it seems he may have missed an opportunity. Right on his doorstep, in the northern Belgium coastal town of Oostende, he has a company programming and selling robotsthat help humans dance, sing and learn new skills. The global robotics market is expected to be worth 1.5bn ( 1bn) by 2019 and although currently dominated by projections for industrial robots, demand for business and consumer robotics is expected to grow seven times faster than in manufacturing. "Belgium is Belgium," says Tommy Deblieck, co-founder of QBMT Solutions, the company behind the Zora social robot. "The government has a digital agenda and we said: 'What about robotics?' The only answer we got was: 'Oops, we forgot about that.'"

For the IT sector, the concept of digital transformation represents a time for evolution, revolution and opportunity, according to Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) president Robert Watson. The new president for the technology association made the statements at last week's IDC Directions and CanadianCIO Symposium in Toronto. The tech trends event was co-hosted by ITWC and IDC with support from ITAC. Notable sessions included the ITWC-moderated Digital Transformation panel -- which featured veteran CIOs discussing the digital transformation opportunities and challenges-- and IDC Canada's Nigel Wallis outlining why Canadian business models should shift to reap IoT rewards. Digital transformation refers to the changes associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society; the overarching event theme focused on digital transformation as more than mere buzzword, but as process that tech leaders and organizations should already be adopting.

The problem is that if robot labor is cheaper and more reliable than human labor, why bother with the latter? The payback period for industrial robots (the time it takes for their extra costs to be paid off) is falling sharply. For a welding robot to be used in a Chinese factory, for example, the period has fallen from 5.3 years in 2010, to 1.7 years in 2015, say analysts from Citi. By 2017, they say it could be as low as 1.3 years. And more robots in factories equals fewer jobs for humans.

Throughout recorded history, humans have reigned unchallenged as Earth's dominant species. Turkeys, heretofore harmless creatures, have been exploding in size, swelling from an average 13.2lb (6kg) in 1929 to over 30lb today. On the rock-solid scientific assumption that present trends will persist, The Economist calculates that turkeys will be as big as humans in just 150 years. Within 6,000 years, turkeys will dwarf the entire planet. Scientists claim that the rapid growth of turkeys is the result of innovations in poultry farming, such as selective breeding and artificial insemination.