Sherlock or Moriarty - how do you approach AI?

From Skynet to The culture, science fiction is littered with utopian and dystopian views on what AI will bring. But there is a more fundamental question when it comes to AI, is it there to solve problems or exploit information? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created two competing personalities that characterize this challenge. Sherlock – the problem solver, the analytical mind (accompanied by an often-startling lack of social skills), and Moriarty the criminal genius who exploited information to get power. These two distinct personalities sum up two different mentalities when we look at how to use AI, namely the use of data to solve a known problem, or the use of data to create new markets and rise above the competition.