Risks of Artificial Intelligence

European and American researchers working in computer science and other areas provide 12 chapters that examine the risks of artificial intelligence and ways to ensure that artificial intelligence systems will be beneficial to humans. They consider how artificial agents can turn into serious threats to humans; errors, insights, and lessons from famous artificial intelligence predictions; the path to more general artificial intelligence; the limitations and risks of machine ethics; utility function security; an artificial general intelligence meta-architecture enabling goal preservation and radical self-improvement; universal empathy and ethical bias for artificial general intelligence; how artificial intelligence can learn to understand what is moral; the ethics of brain emulations; long-term strategies for mitigating existential risk from fast takeoff to superintelligence; and the need to consider risks such as the military use of artificial intelligence. Most chapters are based on papers given at a conference on the topic held in Oxford, England, in December 2012, published in a subsequent journal volume. Annotation c2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Vincent C. Muller’s research focuses on the nature and future of computational systems, particularly on the prospects and dangers of artificial intelligence. He is the president of the European Association for Cognitive Systems and was the coordinator of the European Network for Cognitive Systems, Robotics and Interaction, which has nearly 1000 members and is funded by the European Commission through two FP7 projects worth €3.9 million over 2009–2014 (www.eucognition.org). He organizes a conference series, Theory and Philosophy of AI (www.pt-ai.org), and is the principal investigator of a European Commission–funded research project Digital DIY. He is currently working as professor of philosophy, Division of Humanities & Social Sciences, Anatolia College/ACT, Pylaia-Thessaloniki, Greece.