The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 9 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 5 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence
Open accessAbstract
The ethical issues related to the possible future creation of machines with general intellectual capabilities far outstripping those of humans are quite distinct from any ethical problems arising in current automation and information systems. Such superintelligence would not be just another technological development; it would be the most important invention ever made, and would lead to explosive progress in all scientific and technological fields, as the superintelligence would conduct research with superhuman efficiency. To the extent that ethics is a cognitive pursuit, a superintelligence could also easily surpass humans in the quality of its moral thinking. However, it would be up to the designers of the superintelligence to specify its original motivations. Since the superintelligence may become unstoppably powerful because of its intellectual superiority and the technologies it could develop, it is crucial that it be provided with human-friendly motivations. This paper surveys some of the unique ethical issues in creating superintelligence, and discusses what motivations we ought to give a superintelligence, and introduces some cost-benefit considerations relating to whether the development of superintelligent machines ought to be accelerated or retarded.
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Claims the paper makes
50 Own interpretation · 4 Sources not found · 1 No full text of the sources · 1 No basis given
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“To the extent that ethics is a cognitive pursuit, a superintelligence could also easily surpass humans in the quality of its moral thinking.”
- Also stated in: § 3. SUPERINTELLIGENT MORAL THINKING · hedged
“To the extent that ethics is a cognitive pursuit, a superintelligence could do it better than human thinkers.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > Abstract
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: unclear — It is unclear whether it could be checked against evidence.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § 3. SUPERINTELLIGENT MORAL THINKING · hedged
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It might turn out to take much longer, but there seems currently to be no good ground for assigning a negligible probability to the hypothesis that superintelligence will be created within the lifespan of some people alive today.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 1. INTRODUCTION
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Superintelligence will lead to more advanced superintelligence.This results both from the improved hardware that a superintelligence could create, and also from improvements it could make to its own source code.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The foreseeable technologies that a superintelligence is likely to develop include mature molecular manufacturing, whose applications are wide-ranging:”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Drexler 1986
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Hardware aside, the marginal cost of creating an additional copy of an upload or an artificial intelligence after the first one has been built is near zero.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Artificial minds can be easily copied.Since artificial intelligences are software, they can easily and quickly be copied, so long as there is hardware available to store them.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If we get to superintelligence first, we may avoid this risk from nanotechnology and many others.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This means that questions about ethics, in so far as they have correct answers that can be arrived at by reasoning and weighting up of evidence, could be more accurately answered by a superintelligence than by humans.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 3. SUPERINTELLIGENT MORAL THINKING
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“such as the risk that advanced nanotechnology will be used by humans in warfare or terrorism, a serious threat to the longterm survival of intelligent life on earth.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Bostrom 2002
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Therefore, we will probably one day have to take the gamble of superintelligence no matter what.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Probably not a substantial claim. 30
- It may state two separate claims as one. 13
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Such superintelligence would not be just another technological development; it would be the most important invention ever made, and would lead to explosive progress in all scientific and technological fields, as the superintelligence would conduct research with superhuman efficiency.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > Abstract
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“A prerequisite for having a meaningful discussion of superintelligence is the realization that superintelligence is not just another technology, another tool that will add incrementally to human capabilities.Superintelligence is radically different.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Such superintelligence would not be just another technological development; it would be the most important invention ever made, and would lead to explosive progress in all scientific and technological fields, as the superintelligence would conduct research with superhuman efficiency.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > Abstract
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Since the superintelligence may become unstoppably powerful because of its intellectual superiority and the technologies it could develop, it is crucial that it be provided with human-friendly motivations.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > Abstract
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
- Rests on an assumption: It would be up to the designers of the superintelligence to specify its original motivations.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Artificial minds could therefore quickly come to exist in great numbers, although it is possible that efficiency would favor concentrating computational resources in a single super-intellect.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Superintelligence may be the last invention humans ever need to make.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Technological progress in all other fields will be accelerated by the arrival of advanced artificial intelligence.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Such superintelligence would not be just another technological development; it would be the most important invention ever made, and would lead to explosive progress in all scientific and technological fields, as the superintelligence would conduct research with superhuman efficiency.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > Abstract
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The ethical issues related to the possible future creation of machines with general intellectual capabilities far outstripping those of humans are quite distinct from any ethical problems arising in current automation and information systems.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > Abstract
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is likely that any technology that we can currently foresee will be speedily developed by the first superintelligence, no doubt along with many other technologies of which we are as yet clueless.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Given a superintelligence's intellectual superiority, it would be much better at doing scientific research and technological development than any human, and possibly better even than all humans taken together.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“A superintelligence could also create opportunities for us to vastly increase our own intellectual and emotional capabilities, and it could assist us in creating a highly appealing experiential world in which we could live lives devoted to in joyful game-playing, relating to each other, experiencing, personal growth, and to living closer to our ideals.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The risks in developing superintelligence include the risk of failure to give it the supergoal of philanthropy.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is hard to think of any problem that a superintelligence could not either solve or at least help us solve.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Quite possibly, it would be unrivalled: it would be able to bring about almost any possible outcome and to thwart any attempt to prevent the implementation of its top goal.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 4. IMPORTANCE OF INITIAL MOTIVATIONS
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It also seems perfectly possible to have a superintelligence whose sole goal is something completely arbitrary, such as to manufacture as many paperclips as possible, and who would resist with all its might any attempt to alter this goal.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“That is, the transition from a state where we have a roughly human-level artificial intelligence to a state where we have fullblown superintelligence, with revolutionary applications, may be very rapid, perhaps a matter of days rather than years.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If a superintelligence starts out with a friendly top goal, however, then it can be relied on to stay friendly, or at least not to deliberately rid itself of its friendliness.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 4. IMPORTANCE OF INITIAL MOTIVATIONS
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: It is possible to build a superintelligence with an explicit motivational architecture.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This could result, to return to the earlier example, in a superintelligence whose top goal is the manufacturing of paperclips, with the consequence that it starts transforming first all of earth and then increasing portions of space into paperclip manufacturing facilities.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If, on the other hand, we get nanotechnology first, we will have to face both the risks from nanotechnology and, if these risks are survived, also the risks from superintelligence.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It appears much harder to get from where we are now to human-level artificial intelligence than to get from there to superintelligence.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Additionally, a superintelligence could give us indefinite lifespan, either by stopping and reversing the aging process through the use of nanomedicine 7 , or by offering us the option to upload ourselves.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Freitas Jr. 1999
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In humans, with our complicated evolved mental ecology of state-dependent competing drives, desires, plans, and ideals, there is often no obvious way to identify what our top goal is; we might not even have one.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 4. IMPORTANCE OF INITIAL MOTIVATIONS
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“On the contrary, the setting up of initial conditions, and in particular the selection of a top-level goal for the superintelligence, is of the utmost importance.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 4. IMPORTANCE OF INITIAL MOTIVATIONS
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Rests on an assumption: It would be up to the designers of the superintelligence to specify its original motivations.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“There are therefore many questions that we would not need to answer ourselves if we had or were about to get superintelligence; we could delegate many investigations and decisions to the superintelligence.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 3. SUPERINTELLIGENT MORAL THINKING
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“More subtly, it could result in a superintelligence realizing a state of affairs that we might now judge as desirable but which in fact turns out to be a false utopia, in which things essential to human flourishing have been irreversibly lost.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Artificial intellects may find it easy to guard against some kinds of human error and bias, while at the same time being at increased risk of other kinds of mistake that not even the most hapless human would make.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“When formulating a goal for the superintelligence, it would not always be necessary to give a detailed, explicit definition of this goal.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 3. SUPERINTELLIGENT MORAL THINKING
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Disease, poverty, environmental destruction, unnecessary suffering of all kinds: these are things that a superintelligence equipped with advanced nanotechnology would be capable of eliminating.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Another way for it to happen is that a well-meaning team of programmers make a big mistake in designing its goal system.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It could kill off all other agents, persuade them to change their behavior, or block their attempts at interference.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 4. IMPORTANCE OF INITIAL MOTIVATIONS
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our entire future may hinge on how we solve these problems.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 4. IMPORTANCE OF INITIAL MOTIVATIONS
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The overall risk seems to be minimized by implementing superintelligence, with great care, as soon as possible.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Rests on an assumption: It is possible to endow a superintelligence with human-friendly motivations.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“While specialized superintelligences that can think only about a restricted set of problems may be feasible, general superintelligence would be capable of independent initiative and of making its own plans, and may therefore be more appropriately thought of as an autonomous agent.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Emergence of superintelligence may be sudden.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 2. SUPERINTELLIGENCE IS DIFFERENT
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“One way in which this could happen is that the creators of the superintelligence decide to build it so that it serves only this select group of humans, rather than humanity in general.”
§ Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence > 5. SHOULD DEVELOPMENT BE DELAYED OR ACCELERATED?
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
The paper relies on this without support.
It would be up to the designers of the superintelligence to specify its original motivations.
“However, it would be up to the designers of the superintelligence to specify its original motivations.”
The paper relies on this without support.
It is possible to endow a superintelligence with human-friendly motivations.
“It seems that the best way to ensure that a superintelligence will have a beneficial impact on the world is to endow it with philanthropic values.”
The paper relies on this without support.
It is possible to build a superintelligence with an explicit motivational architecture.
“And this is a good reason for us to build the superintelligence with such an explicit motivational architecture.”
Citations
Cites
(1998) · Cited by 820
(2002) · Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford) · Cited by 421
Self-citation(1999) · Cited by 392
The coming technological singularity
Vinge, V. (1993) · Whole earth · Cited by 165
(1998) · Cited by 143
Self-citationNanomedicine, Volume 1: Basic Capabilities
(2000) · Kybernetes · doi:10.1108/k.2000.29.9_10.1333.3 · Cited by 49
A Critical Discussion of Vinge's Singularity Concept
Brin, D., Broderick, D., Bostrom, N., et al. (2013) · doi:10.1002/9781118555927.ch37 · Cited by 6
Self-citationRobot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind
Cohen, E. A., & Moravec, H. P. (1999) · Foreign Affairs · doi:10.2307/20049291
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Artificial Intelligence and Marketing: Pitfalls and Opportunities
Bruyn, A. D., Viswanathan, V., Beh, Y. S., Brock, J. K., & von Wangenheim, F. (2020) · Journal of Interactive Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2020.04.007 · Cited by 647
“In his canonical thought experiment, Bostrom (2003) develops the case where an artificial general intelligence tasked with the objective of manufacturing as many paperclips as possible, although designed without malice, could ultimately destroy humanity since no reward for humanity's terminal…”
BackgroundAlgorithmic Accountability and Public Reason
Binns, R. (2018) · Philosophy & Technology · doi:10.1007/s13347-017-0263-5 · Cited by 457
Towards Intelligent Regulation of Artificial Intelligence
Buiten, M. C. (2019) · European Journal of Risk Regulation · doi:10.1017/err.2019.8 · Cited by 254
Thinking Inside the Box: Controlling and Using an Oracle AI
Armstrong, S., Sandberg, A., & Bostrom, N. (2012) · Minds and Machines · doi:10.1007/s11023-012-9282-2 · Cited by 144
Self-citation“Blessed by the algorithm”: Theistic conceptions of artificial intelligence in online discourse
Singler, B. (2020) · AI & Society · doi:10.1007/s00146-020-00968-2 · Cited by 130
“He notes that AI philosophers such as Nick Bostrom of the Future of Humanity Institute have focussed on the issues of malevolence through "perverse instantiation", a failure of value alignment leading to unforeseen damage from a superintelligent AI, such as in Bostrom's famous Paperclip Maximiser thought experiment (B…”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Bostrom, N.
- Corresponding author
- Bostrom, Nick
- Venue
- Machine Ethics and Robot Ethics
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2020-09-10
- Pages
- 69-75
- OpenAlex
- W3081243002
- Cited by
- 187
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 23
- FWCI
- 98.53
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- philarchive.org
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Social Sciences › Law › Literary and Philosophical Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Psychiatry, Mental Health, Neuroscience
- Keywords
- superintelligence, AI ethics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
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