We Shouldn’t be Scared by ‘Superintelligent A.I.’

Current discussions of superhuman artificial intelligence are plagued by flawed intuitions about the nature of intelligence. Intelligent machines catastrophically misinterpreting human desires is a frequent trope in science fiction, perhaps used most memorably in Isaac Asimov's stories of robots that misconstrue the famous "three laws of robotics." The idea of artificial intelligence going awry resonates with human fears about technology. But current discussions of superhuman A.I. are plagued by flawed intuitions about the nature of intelligence. We don't need to go back all the way to Isaac Asimov -- there are plenty of recent examples of this kind of fear.