The Shape of Things to Come

5 minute read. My previous post on Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence might have come across as a bit foreboding, but I actually find myself much less concerned about humanity's future than many software engineers I know. There's a rich background of dystopian science fiction about AI enslaving humanity, but I find it to be a bit far-fetched, even though I have no doubt that ML algorithms will eventually, perhaps soon, far surpass human skill in any measurable contest. The question of our future though, is not one of intelligence, but of power and motivation. We are building AI to solve problems. I speak not of myself personally (I don't work in the field) and not even of my employer (though they are certainly expanding the state of the art along with most other tech companies), but of humanity in general: we are a global society and no one acts in a vacuum. The primary fear I hear is that AI will, through superior intellect, come to either control or destroy us ev...