xii, 364 pages : 25 cm "How will artificial intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today's kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle? What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn't shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues--from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos."--Jacket "This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf." Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-347) and index Prologue: The tale of the Omega Team -- Welcome to the most important conversation of our time. A brief history of complexity ; The three stages of life ; Controversies ; Misconceptions ; The road ahead -- Matter turns intelligent. What is intelligence? ; What is memory? ; What is computation? ; What is learning? -- The near future: breakthroughs, bugs, laws, weapons and jobs. Breakthroughs ; Bugs vs. robust AI ; Laws ; Weapons ; Jobs and wages ; Human-level intelligence? -- Intelligence explosion?. Totalitarianism ; Prometheus takes over the world ; Slow takeoff and multiple scenarios ; Cyborgs and uploads ; What will actually happen? -- Aftermath: the next 10,000 years. Libertarian utopia ; Benevolent dictator ; Egalitarian utopia ; Gatekeeper ; Protector God ; Enslaved God ; Conquerors ; Descendants ; Zookeeper ; 1984 ; Reversion ; Self-destruction ; What do you want? -- Our cosmic endowment: the next billion years and beyond. Making the most of your resources ; Gaining resources through cosmic settlement ; Cosmic hierarchies ; Outlook -- Goals. Physics: the origin of goals ; Biology: the evolution of goals ; Psychology: the pursuit of and rebellion against goals ; Engineering: outsourcing goals ; Friendly AI: aligning goals ; Ethics: choosing goals ; Ultimate goals? -- Consciousness. Who ares? ; What is consciousness? ; What's the problem? ; Is consciousness beyond science? ; Experimental clues about consciousness ; Theories of consciousness ; Controversies of consciousness ; How might AI consciousness feel? ; Meaning -- Epilogue: The tale of the FLI Team