P1 Fears about developing intelligent machines go back centuries. Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, refers to the point in time when machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence as “the singularity,” which he predicts could come as early as 2045.
P2 Many scientists warn that the development of intelligent machines could pose a major threat to humanity. They believe that the development of full artificial intelligence (AI) could end the human race. The famous British scientist, Stephen Hawking, has warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence. In April, Hawking and well-known scientists, Max Tegmark and Stuart Russell predict that the creation of AI will be the biggest event in human history. We will be able to create AI that can think by themselves and for themselves. Unfortunately, it may also be the last because people will not be able to control them. However, other experts disagree that AI will lead to human extinction. For instance, Charlie Ortiz, head of the software company Nuance Communications, said the concerns about the danger of AI are too much. He does not see any reason to think that when machines become more intelligent, they would want to destroy us or do harm. He believes that despites their intelligence, AI will not have desires or feelings like human. Ortiz argues that fears about AI are based on the assumption that as species become more intelligent, they have a tendency to be more controlling and more violent and he thinks the opposite. In contrast, he points out that as we, human, become more intelligent, we become kinder and more peaceful and treat people better and it could be the same to AI, if they could have any feelings at all.
P3 From these pro and con opinions, we should admit that the development of super-intelligent machines is still an important issue. Nevertheless, we should not fear the development of AI too much. This is not going to happen in the near future because computers are anywhere near that dangerous level. We have excellent brains and we will use it to create artificial intelligence that only serves us, not destroy us.