Artificial Intelligence: Can Business Improve As The Singularity Unfolds?

The notion of a technological singularity brought about by advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has entertained academics, inventors, futurists, and journalists since the concept was first coined around the middle of the last century. The singularity posits that, at some point in the near or distant future, we humans will create AI that outsmarts us, leading to all sorts of unhappy results for our kind. Depending on whether you prefer utopian or dystopian science fiction, the singularity will either be absolutely fabulous or downright horrifying. Mathemetician and science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge is thought to have coined the term "the singularity." Vinge's view in this 1993 essay is decidedly dystopian: "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended."