Wendy Sherman: “In May of the year 2000, I was at this podium talking about the dangers of what I called engineered intelligence…”

“In May of the year 2000, I was at this podium talking about the dangers of what I called engineered intelligence, artificial intelligence from our computer engineers or new types of mammalian life from our biological engineers, say a 1,000- pound mammal with a 200-pound brain that might beat my grandkids on the law school admissions test. Right now, artificial intelligence is the rage, and the question before us is, is it a tool or is it a creature? The answer is clear: For the next quarter century at least, it is a tool. It is a powerful tool, an increasingly powerful tool, and we need to do a lot in Congress to make sure it is a tool for good. We also have to think of the second half of this century and whether artificial intelligence becomes a creature with its own volition and its own objectives. We are spending trillions of dollars to make artificial intelligence more intelligent. If we didn't, and we are, but while we are doing it, so is China, so is Europe, and so are others. Nothing is going to derail this effort to use artificial intelligence to make money and power, but while we are spending trillions making AI more powerful, perhaps we should spend 1 percent in a government agency to do some research on how to deal not just with the problems that confront us in the next few decades, but those that confront us in the second half of this century. I mean, we need to do research.…”