Towards Artificial General Intelligence: Recent Developments And Potential Risks

Abstract

In the history of evolution of life on earth, the emergence of humans represents a fleeting moment in a vast expanse of time. Yet, in the short amount of time we have been on the planet, we have managed to become the dominant species. The primary reason for this rapid ascent of the food chain is our intelligence. Given this fact, it is not surprising that we have always been fascinated by how intelligence works, and if it is something we can create or enhance. There have been several examples of fictitious creatures representing “artificial intelligence” throughout our history - from the myth of the Homunculus residing inside our body to modern-day stories like The Terminator. In the quest to develop artificial intelligence, the esteemed Professor John McCarthy initiated the modern version of this field as a research project at Stanford University in 1956. He believed that human intelligence isn’t something that humans can never understand.