"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-347) and index.

Prelude : The tale of the Omega Team -- Welcome to the most important conversation of our time. A brief history of complexity ; The three stages of life ; Controversies ; Misconceptions ; The road ahead -- Matter turns intelligent. What is intelligence? ; What is memory? ; What is computation? ; What is learning? -- The near future : breakthroughs, bugs, laws, weapons and jobs. Breakthroughs ; Bugs vs. robust AI ; Laws ; Weapons ; Jobs and wages ; Human-level intelligence? -- Intelligence explosion?. Totalitarianism ; Prometheus takes over the world ; Slow takeoff and multiple scenarios ; Cyborgs and uploads ; What will actually happen? -- Aftermath : the next 10,000 years. Libertarian utopia ; Benevolent dictator ; Egalitarian utopia ; Gatekeeper ; Protector God ; Enslaved God ; Conquerors ; Descendants ; Zookeeper ; 1984 ; Reversion ; Self-destruction ; What do you want? -- Our cosmic endowment : the next billion years and beyond. Making the most of your resources ; Gaining resources through cosmic settlement ; Cosmic hierarchies ; Outlook -- Goals. Physics : the origin of goals ; Biology : the evolution of goals ; Psychology : the pursuit of and rebellion against goals ; Engineering : outsourcing goals ; Friendly AI : aligning goals ; Ethics : choosing goals ; Ultimate goals? -- Consciousness. Who cares? ; What is consciousness? ; What's the problem? ; Is consciousness beyond science? ; Experimental clues about consciousness ; Theories of consciousness ; Controversies of consciousness ; How might AI consciousness feel? ; Meaning -- Epilogue : The tale of the FLI Team.

"What jobs should be automated? How should our legal systems handle autonomous systems? How likely is the emergence of suprahuman intelligence? A.I. is the future of science, technology, and business--and there is no person better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark. What has A.I. brought us? Where will it lead us? The story of A.I. is the story of intelligence--of life processes as they evolve from bacteria (1.0) to humans (2.0), where life processes define their own software, to technology (3.0), where life processes design both their hardware and software. We know that A.I. is transforming work, laws, and weapons, as well as the dark side of computing (hacking and viral sabotage), raising questions that we all need to address: What jobs should be automated? How should our legal systems handle autonomous systems? How likely is the emergence of suprahuman intelligence? Is it possible to control suprahuman intelligence? How do we ensure that the uses of A.I. remain beneficial? These are the issues at the heart of this book and its unique perspective, which seeks a ground apart from techno-skepticism and digital utopia"-- Provided by publisher.

"How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today's kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle? What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn't shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues--from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos."--Publisher's description.