Interviews: Ask Ray Kurzweil a question

Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading authors, inventors, and futurists. Kurzweil was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition. Among Kurzweil’s many honors, he received the 2015 Technical Grammy Award for outstanding achievements in the field of music technology; he is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, holds twenty honorary Doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents. He has given us some of his time to answer any questions you may have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one question per post.

Comments

What if we create AI

[Rinikusu]

And it turns out to be a complete fucking dumbass and won't get a job?

Optimistic AI

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr. Kurzweil,

I'm sure you're frequently asked questions about the rise of AI that have ominous tones. Instead I'd would like to ask you a question of a more optimistic nature. What is the single most important benefit to society that AI will provide?

Thank you for your time.
PJB

Supplementation/diet evolution

[CaptainJeff]

With your focus on longevity and aggressive supplementation, you have often included a caveat that you keep track of developments in this space and adjust your regiments all of the time. With that in mind, what have you changed recently? What supplements, food choices, etc, have you favored previously but no longer due, based on new information? Conversely, what new supplements, food choices, etc, have you begun taking/eating/drinking/etc based on new research and information?

Who is working on strong AI?

[Okian Warrior]

Current AI research seems to be about heuristics - solving specific problems which, although the solutions may have wide application, don't seem to embody intelligence.

The standard AI solution for chess, for example, calls for the engineer to learn how to play chess, then turn his mind's eye inward to see the steps he uses to play chess, then codify those steps as a program. Most AI programs seem to develop that way.

The intelligence stays in the mind of the engineer, and the program becomes a clockwork pattern of fixed steps.

Is anyone in the field actually working on strong AI? Who's papers would you recommend reading to learn more about strong AI?

How far off are we?

[cshark]

Seems to me that the singularity keeps getting pushed back for a number of reasons.
First I hear 15, then I hear 20, now I'm hearing as much as 35 years until we hit it.

In your estimation: How far is the singularity from where we stand today? And do you see any technologies like, possibly quantum computing accelerating this trend?

Autonomous ground vehicles

[kheldan]

Hi Ray,

On the subject of 'autonomous cars', I see many people here on Slashdot who think that they'll be designed with no manual controls for a human operator, and that you'll just give it instructions and off you go. I maintain that so-called 'autonomous vehicles' will always be designed with a full set of manual controls for a human operator, the ability to override the autonomous system without delay, and that furthermore human operators will always be required to be fully and completely educated, trained, tested, licensed, and insured, because where the safety of human beings is concerned, the final 'backup system' must always be a human being, since any automated system can theoretically fail at any time. What is your opinion on this? Thanks for your time and consideration. :-)