Editing Superintelligence (section)

{{Short description|Hypothetical agent surpassing human intelligence}}
{{for multi|the book by Nick Bostrom|Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies|the 2020 film|Superintelligence (film)}}
A '''[[superintelligence]]''' is a hypothetical [[intelligent agent|agent]] that possesses [[intelligence]] surpassing that of the brightest and most [[intellectual giftedness|gifted]] human minds. <ref>{{Cite web |last1=Mucci |first1=Tim |last2=Stryker |first2=Cole |date=2023-12-14 |title=What Is Artificial Superintelligence? {{!}} IBM |url=https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/artificial-superintelligence |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=www.ibm.com |language=en}}</ref>"Superintelligence" may also refer to a property of problem-solving systems (e.g., superintelligent [[Neural machine translation|language translators]] or engineering assistants) whether or not these high-level intellectual competencies are embodied in agents that act in the world. A superintelligence may or may not be created by an [[Technological singularity#Intelligence explosion|intelligence explosion]] and associated with a [[technological singularity]].

[[University of Oxford]] philosopher [[Nick Bostrom]] defines ''superintelligence'' as "any intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest".{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|loc=Chapter 2}} The program [[Fritz (chess)|Fritz]] falls short of this conception of superintelligence—even though it is much better than humans at chess—because Fritz cannot outperform humans in other tasks.{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|p=22}}

Technological researchers disagree about how likely present-day [[human intelligence]] is to be surpassed. Some argue that advances in [[artificial intelligence]] (AI) will probably result in general reasoning systems that lack human cognitive limitations. Others believe that humans will evolve or directly modify their biology to achieve radically greater intelligence.<ref>{{Citation|last=Pearce|first=David|title=The Biointelligence Explosion: How Recursively Self-Improving Organic Robots will Modify their Own Source Code and Bootstrap Our Way to Full-Spectrum Superintelligence |date=2012|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-32560-1_11|work=Singularity Hypotheses|series=The Frontiers Collection |pages=199–238|editor-last=Eden|editor-first=Amnon H.|place=Berlin, Heidelberg|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-32560-1_11|isbn=978-3-642-32559-5|access-date=2022-01-16|editor2-last=Moor|editor2-first=James H.|editor3-last=Søraker|editor3-first=Johnny H.|editor4-last=Steinhart|editor4-first=Eric|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Exploration|year=2020|isbn=978-1-62273-872-4|editor-last=Gouveia|editor-first=Steven S.|chapter=ch. 4, "Humans and Intelligent Machines: Co-evolution, Fusion or Replacement?", David Pearce|publisher=Vernon Press |chapter-url=https://www.biointelligence-explosion.com/parable.html}}</ref> Several [[futures studies|future study]] scenarios combine elements from both of these possibilities, suggesting that humans are likely to [[brain–computer interface|interface with computers]], or [[mind uploading|upload their minds to computers]], in a way that enables substantial [[intelligence amplification]].

Some researchers believe that superintelligence will likely follow shortly after the development of [[artificial general intelligence]]. The first generally intelligent machines are likely to immediately hold an enormous advantage in at least some forms of mental capability, including the capacity of [[Eidetic memory|perfect recall]], a vastly superior knowledge base, and the ability to [[Human multitasking|multitask]] in ways not possible to biological entities. This may allow them to — either as a single being or as a new [[species]] — become much more powerful than humans, and displace them.{{sfn|Bostrom|2014|loc=Chapter 2}}

Several scientists and forecasters have been arguing for prioritizing early research into the possible benefits and risks of [[Intelligence amplification|human and machine cognitive enhancement]], because of the potential [[Social influence|social impact]] of such technologies.{{sfn|Legg|2008|pp=135–137}}