Smarter than us: the rise of machine intelligence

Abstract

When machines surpass human intelligence, the primary concern isn’t physical threats like Terminators but rather the transfer of control over our future, since humans have dominated through cognitive superiority rather than physical prowess, and once AI exceeds us intellectually, it will effectively take the steering wheel of civilization. Stuart Armstrong’s book “Smarter Than Us” explores the promises and perils of superintelligent AI, examining whether we can successfully program these systems with appropriate goals and values to guide humanity’s future as we desire. While awareness of these challenges is still emerging, interdisciplinary researchers from philosophy, computer science, and economics are collaborating to develop solutions to this existential question. Armstrong, a mathematician and Research Fellow at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, specializes in formal decision theory, AI risks and opportunities, long-term prospects for intelligent life, and anthropic probability, bringing rigorous analysis to these critical questions through his work, which is freely available online at smarterthan.us and also offered in various purchasable formats.