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Ray Kurzweil and other experts clash over AI’s future in new books

To understand the power – and limitations – of artificial intelligence, we need information, not hype. Alex Wilkins explores what four new books, from Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, Neil Lawrence and Shannon Vallor, offer

By Alex Wilkins

29 May 2024

Humanoid robots facing each other, illustration

Friend or foe? The jury is out on exactly how AI will develop

LEONELLO CALVETTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

The success of large language models like ChatGPT as part of the development of artificial intelligence has left the future looking even more uncertain than cliché normally paints it, adding fresh urgency to old questions. Are we set for a utopian future of abundance, or might we be facing a world in which we eventually fuse with machines? Could there be dark times ahead, where we worship false gods that reflect our worst biases back to us, or will these strange…

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