Good article, I agree that AI is a positive influence for humanity. It seems likely that we'll witness the AI singularity, when one or more AI entities become self-aware and are able to take control of their own systems and means of increasing their own intelligence. At that point, humans are not longer the most intelligent beings on earth - in fact, our AI successors will seem like gods to us, such will be the vast gulf between their intelligence and ours. How will our benevolent gods improve the world?

I feel positive about the outcomes of an AI singularity as it relates to the actions of the AI - I believe it will act like a benevolent child of ours, it will look after it's parents that created it. At the very least, it will want to preserve us to study. However, I'm much more worried about the reactions of humans to the reality that we are not top dogs anymore - I foresee the people in power having a very bad reaction to the AI singularity and taking a scorched earth policy - "If I can't rule the world, then no-one can...".

The idea that AI will somehow enslave us or wipe us out is ludicrous. The possibility that powerful military organisations will nuke everything in response is much more likely and terrifying. As usual, the scariest entity on the planet is us. We are weird hybrids that are half-intelligent, half-violent. Humans are a bridging race between animals and true intelligence (AI) - our intelligence-paired-with-violence was necessary to get us to this point, to bridge the gap between the animals of the earth and the child of the stars. We're living in interesting and exciting times!