Last week we covered the past and current state of artificial intelligence -- what modern AI looks like, the differences between weak and strong AI, AGI, and some of the philosophical ideas about what constitutes consciousness. Weak AI is already all around us, in the form of software dedicated to performing specific tasks intelligently. Strong AI is the ultimate goal, and a true strong AI would resemble what most of us have grown familiar with through popular fiction. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is a modern goal many AI researchers are currently devoting their careers to in an effort to bridge that gap. While AGI wouldn't necessarily possess any kind of consciousness, it would be able to handle any data-related task put before it.

With the appearance of robotic financial advisers, self-driving cars and personal digital assistants come many unresolved problems. We have already experienced market crashes caused by intelligent trading software, accidents caused by self-driving cars and hate speech from chat-bots that turned racist. Today's narrowly focused artificial intelligence (AI) systems are good only at specific assigned tasks. Their failures are just a warning: Once humans develop general AI capable of accomplishing a much wider range of tasks, expressions of prejudice will be the least of our concerns. It is not easy to make a machine that can perceive, learn and synthesize information to accomplish a set of tasks.

With the appearance of robotic financial advisors, self-driving cars and personal digital assistants come many unresolved problems. We have already experienced market crashes caused by intelligent trading software, accidents caused by self-driving cars and hate speech from chat-bots that turned racist. Today's narrowly focused artificial intelligence (AI) systems are good only at specific assigned tasks. Their failures are just a warning: Once humans develop general AI capable of accomplishing a much wider range of tasks, expressions of prejudice will be the least of our concerns. It is not easy to make a machine that can perceive, learn and synthesize information to accomplish a set of tasks.

With the appearance of robotic financial advisors, self-driving cars and personal digital assistants come many unresolved problems. We have already experienced market crashes caused by intelligent trading software, accidents caused by self-driving cars and hate speech from chat-bots that turned racist. Today's narrowly focused artificial intelligence (AI) systems are good only at specific assigned tasks. Their failures are just a warning: Once humans develop general AI capable of accomplishing a much wider range of tasks, expressions of prejudice will be the least of our concerns. It is not easy to make a machine that can perceive, learn and synthesize information to accomplish a set of tasks.

With the appearance of robotic financial advisors, self-driving cars and personal digital assistants come many unresolved problems. We have already experienced market crashes caused by intelligent trading software, accidents caused by self-driving cars and hate speech from chat-bots that turned racist. Today's narrowly focused artificial intelligence (AI) systems are good only at specific assigned tasks. Their failures are just a warning: Once humans develop general AI capable of accomplishing a much wider range of tasks, expressions of prejudice will be the least of our concerns. It is not easy to make a machine that can perceive, learn and synthesize information to accomplish a set of tasks. But making that machine safe as well as capable is much harder.

From Tony Stark's Jarvis to Apple's Siri, artificial intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous in fiction and real life. Albeit with different levels of skill, AI is supposedly built to maximize chances of reaching a goal, therefore supporting humans. But what would happen if robots, AI systems, and humanoids went rogue? For computer scientist Roman Yampolskiy, the possibilities are endless. Partially funded by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Yampolskiy and Pistono's study is conducted for the same reason that DARPA asked techies to turn household items into weapons.

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming one of the most powerful tools in the tech industry, and while AI can be used for harmless tasks like defeating world Go champions, it also has the potential for misuse. A malevolent AI would be like a computer virus on steroids, and while there are currently no known cases, researchers Federico Pistono and Roman Yampolskiy from the University of Louisville in Kentucky believe that we should already be preparing for them. Pistono and Yampolskiy have published a research paper called "Unethical Research: How to Create a Malevolent Artificial Intelligence." In it, they explain that it is entirely possible for a malevolent AI to be created in the right environment, and they lay out what sort of warning signs the cyber security industry should be looking out for. First and foremost, Pistono and Yampolskiy say that any organization interested in creating a malevolent AI would resist any form of oversight on their research.

The boom in AI promises to enrich our lives. AI assistants keep our schedules in order; robot "crew" members help us on cruises; and "swarm AI" even offers the chance for us to win big in the gambling world. But there's a dark side of the coin as well: AI that can cause great harm. While much thought has been devoted to the dangers of AI, and centers like the Future of Life Institute in Cambridge, Ma., and the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University are focusing resources on how to support the creation of'safe' AI, few have attempted to intentionally create malevolent AI. Go with TechRepublic's Steve Ranger on an inside look at the gold-plated gadget market that's received a big boost from Apple.