Ideas worth spreading

Don't fear superintelligent AI

2,992,550 views | Grady Booch • TED@IBM

New tech spawns new anxieties, says scientist and philosopher Grady Booch, but we don't need to be afraid an all-powerful, unfeeling AI. Booch allays our worst (sci-fi induced) fears about superintelligent computers by explaining how we'll teach, not program, them to share our human values. Rather than worry about an unlikely existential threat, he urges us to consider how artificial intelligence will enhance human life.

New tech spawns new anxieties, says scientist and philosopher Grady Booch, but we don't need to be afraid an all-powerful, unfeeling AI. Booch allays our worst (sci-fi induced) fears about superintelligent computers by explaining how we'll teach, not program, them to share our human values. Rather than worry about an unlikely existential threat, he urges us to consider how artificial intelligence will enhance human life.

Join the conversation regarding the existential risk of artificial intelligence with the Institute of Future Life.

Check out Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the leading organization focused on advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines.

About the speaker

Grady Booch

Scientist, philosopher

See speaker profile

IBM's Grady Booch is shaping the future of cognitive computing by building intelligent systems that can reason and learn.

Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke | 1968 | Watch

2001: A Space Odyssey

A classic work of science fiction that explores humanity’s place in the universe. The story is driven by the discovery of a black monolith buried below the moon’s surface and the voyage from Earth to Jupiter to follow its signal. Hal – a computer aboard the Discovery spacecraft – is the unexpected protagonist. Hal is sentient and in many ways, exceeds human abilities, but his emotional breakdown that springs from an existential conflict of goals gives rise to the movie’s turning point.

Spike Jonze | 2013 | Watch

Her

A bittersweet love story between Theodore (a lonely introvert) and Samantha (a sentient operating system). Her explores the themes of love and loss and the degrees to which immersion into an imagined reality yield deep emotional connection.

Nick Bostrom | Oxford University Press, 2016 | Book

Superintelligence

A philosophical treatise that explores the possibility and the implications of the evolution of super-intelligent computers. Bostrom argues that this is an existential problem for all of humanity, and that we must be intentional to solve the problem of controlling such an artificial intelligence.

James Barrat | Thomas Dunne Books, 2013 | Book

Our Final Invention

Similar in spirit and in conclusions to Bostrom’s work, Barrat focuses on how continuous self-improvement, when a computer learns how to learn, might yield a super intelligent machine.

Marvin Minsky | 1986 | Book

The Society of Mind

Written by one of the great minds of artificial intelligence, Dr. Minsky proposes a theory of human intelligence as an emergent behavior that derives from the opportunistic and collaborative interaction of simple, mindless agents.

Giulio Tononi | Pantheon, 2012 | Book

Phi

Here the neuroscientist Dr. Tononi describes IIT, the Integrated Information Theory and how it can explain the nature of consciousness.

Grady Booch | 2013-2016 | Explore

On Computing

A series of articles and podcasts on the intersection of computing and the human experience.

Grady Booch | Watch

"I Think, Therefore I Am"

An exploration of the development of intelligent computers as projections of what we dream and what we fear.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute

Join the conversation regarding the existential risk of artificial intelligence with the Institute of Future Life.

Check out Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the leading organization focused on advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines.