Akin to the old idea that "an idle gun never killed anyone," the idle web browser never showed me fascist threats that I didn't go searching for.

Heh. I never thought I'd see the day that good ole' "Libertarian" Slashdot would call for regulating "all social media platforms."

Not to mention wow, flutter, harmonic distortion, poor stereo separation and physical media degradation. I don't think people would be clamoring for old technology if pop music mastering engineers hadn't fucked up the new technology so badly. I'll take a digital file (mastered well) any day of the week over this obsolete garbage any day.

...are soon parted.

Agreed. Slashdot is one of the worst places to go for commentary on AI developments. Is it because of an aging audience?

By pulling out of the process, they're basically ensuring they will have zero say in the outcome.

...who was involved.

What will Jay-Z make his wife look like?

I think you're deluding yourself. The people working on the problem of automated driving (just as one example) aren't going to stop. The technology that enables it; the sensors and algorithms aren't going to cease to be developed. They're going to succeed and whether that's a year from now or ten years from now, it doesn't really matter. And I think the same holds true for the most important technology - some form of AI. It would appear to me that the largest questions of how to develop (even an imperfect, less-than-human-capable) intelligence have been resolved. The only thing remaining is the refinement and distribution of the final product.

Once that takes place, I don't think there will be any stopping the technological, scientific, economic and societal upheaval.

But don't worry. I'm sure the armchair experts of Slashdot will be along any minute to tell us how this all just a bunch of hype and that the computers are stupid (I'm not disagreeing - for the moment) and AI is at least ten millions years away and will likely NEVER come to pass. Seriously though, I think a large portion of this site's users have their heads in the sand. I don't work in the field, but I am very interested in it and I read a lot of material from a lot of reputable sources. It seems to me that there are some very deep pockets out there treating this as a serious project and are determined to succeed. Personally, I think they will succeed and far sooner than almost everyone will expect. To have a huge impact, AI doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to reason at a human level to be of use or have a noticeable effect on the economy. And once simpler forms of AI arrive, it will advance very rapidly. I think the folks here on Slashdot will be denying the possibility of such a thing right up until the day before they find themselves on the unemployment line. I think we (and our political leaders) should be preparing for a new economy today while there's still time. Otherwise, it'll be a catastrophe for the majority of working people and society at large.

I would be very surprised if these algorithms aren't near-perfect with another year of training and refinement.

I have been assured many, many times by the experts of Slashdot that computers are nowhere near achieving artificial intelligence.

Those who don't learn their history are doomed to repeat it.

The next step should be to figure out how to create DNA "tools" to help assemble molecular scale machines!