The New York Times just ran an article on the concepts that the Singularity Summit has been a leading conference in exploring: the Singularity, intelligence explosion, and the possibility of artificial intelligence outsmarting humans.  The article is by John Markoff, who wrote a prior article on the Singularity, “The Coming Superbrain”, just two months ago, which profiled Singularity Summit speaker Ray Kurzweil.  Here is an excerpt from the latest article:

A robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself. Computer viruses that no one can stop. Predator drones, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously.

Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone.

Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences.

Read the entire article.

It is good to see discussion around both the risks and benefits of advanced AI technologies.  Both are greater than many people think.

With three months to go before the 2009 Singularity Summit, we are pleased to announce the preliminary speaker line-up.  The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd-4th at the historic 92nd Street Y in New York City, New York.  Tickets are now available for sale at the Singularity Summit website.

See the schedule here. The schedule may be updated as details are finalized.