Before delving further into how machines might become intelligent it is helpful to define, or at least describe, what is meant by intelligence when referring to machines. I. J. Good, who worked with Alan Turing during World War II and is credited as the originator of the oft cited term ‘singularity’, described what he called an “ultraintelligent” machine as “a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever”. Good and many others tend to focus not just on what constitutes intelligence but specifically on how and when we will know that machines will surpass the capabilities of human. Regardless of whether we are defining intelligence or ultraintelligence, the type of the criteria should be the same. This gives us the basis for one possible criterion for intelligence, viz. the ability to perform a task or activity as well as an average person. This gives us the basis for one possible criterion for intelligence, viz. the ability to perform a task or activity as well as an average person.
In Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies Nick Bostrom states : “…we use the term ‘superintelligence’ to refer to intellects that greatly outperform the best current human minds across many very general cognitive domains.” He goes on to suggest that it is helpful to decompose this notion into three categories of superintelligence: speed superintelligence, collective superintelligence, and quality superintelligence.
Speed superintelligence is defined as “a system that can do all that a human intellect can do, but much faster.”
Collective superintelligence is defined as “a system composed of a large number of smaller intellects such that the system’s overall performance across many very general domains vastly outstrips that of any current cognitive system.”
Quality superintelligence is defined as “a system that is at least as fast as a human mind and vastly qualitatively smarter.”
Each of these three definitions covers a different form of intelligence and is in fact the product of a different type of system. The next three posts will cover these in more detail.