Hi @jerry_kaplan! For those that are going to be directly impacted by AI supplementing or replacing their jobs, what is the biggest hope for them to adjust in the future environment?

Kevin Kelly has mentioned we need a new mythology that better integrates advancement of tech and the rate of change with the actualization of human experience. What do you think about this? Do we need new religion to deal with AI?

Let's give a HUGE thanks to @jerry_kaplan for taking the time to do an AMA with us, and let's all read his book together! just bought it. http://www.amazon.com/Humans-Nee...

Hi Jerry - I'm reading more and more about the automation of community forums. PR companies paying folks to promote products in comment sections, political pundits spamming message boards, Twitter bots entering every online giveaway they can find, invisible girlfriends that will text and email you. Are there situations where someone would see the benefit of creating artificial intelligence agents to enter any of these communities?

It is my pleasure to introduce Jerry Kaplan for an AMA today at 1pm PST. Jerry is a Silicon Valley technologist, serial entrepreneur, technical innovator, bestselling author, and futurist. His latest book is "Humans Need Not Apply: A Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”. AMA about whether your kids will marry a robot, what Steve Jobs was like, among other cool topics. Ask questions in advance... :)!

Is there an emerging futurist you admire who has challenged/pushed your own views of AI and the Singularity?

Piggybacking on the question from @lejlahunts above, a number of movies have come out recently about robots/AI—most recently, Ex Machina. Has the evolution of AI (current and predicted) changed your understanding of human consciousness? Put another way: Do robots, like almost everything else created in the past 13.8 billion years, consist of more than the sum of their parts?

Hi @jerry_kaplan This is one of my favorite subjects, especially as AI injects itself further into my field of study; marketing technology, via predictive analytics mostly. I'm fortunate enough to be able to talk to some smart people on this topic, and I look forward to reading your new book. Here's my question: Patrick Ehlen at Loop AI Labs said this: "The Machine Apocalypse scenario is the minority view of some admittedly very smart people who may or may not know the future of AI. One thing we know for certain is that anything that is effective at doing good is also effective at doing evil." And when Pew Research canvassed 1,895 experts in the field on the economic, and social impact of AI and robotics between now and 2025, they were almost exactly split on how bleak the future is. Half said it was "bad," citing a future where machine intelligence grows to the point where it increases economic disparity. Where do you stand on that argument? Do you expect AI to widen social, cultural, and economic gaps, replacing blue/white-collar workers within the next 10 years? Or are we talking about technologies that, while achievable, will still take several generations to become mainstream enough to cause any widespread change?

@jerry_kaplan Do you think there's a good rule of thumb or heuristic you can apply to predicting what will and what won't be automated out of human employment? Any surprising exceptions you've found?

Do you think, like Ray Kurzweil, that the 2040's will see the advent of the general AI that will change everything?

Hey @jerry_kaplan - in your opinion what's the biggest threat(s) to the advancement (and vast adoption) of AI in the next 50 years?

Hey Jerry! The movie Her- what was accurate, what was ridiculous? Will we have deep relationships with robots?

Thanks @jerry_kaplan this was an amazing AMA! I wanted to ask what your thoughts on the influence AI might have on our own biological evolution...do you believe AI can aid in extending human life...possibly to the point it changes what it would mean to be "human"? Maybe too deep a question now that the AMA is over? :)

Hi @jerry_kaplan, here's a question. With 70% of jobs threatened by the existence of AI, do you think the future of work is no work? Will we be living a life that goes back to crafts, focus on arts and leisure as the majority of the worlds jobs will be done by a few?

Wow great question. The emergence of intelligent machines certainly raises questions about our own consciousness. I've read extensively on this subject (so you don't have to), and the plain truth is that we have no idea what consciousness is. There's a perfectly reasonable argument that it's some sort of illusion, or at least that the belief we have in its existence has some evolutionary purpose. Assuming you're conscious, this may sound ridiculous, but as Nick Bostrom hilariously argued (because he made such a good case), there's a good chance we don't exist at all in the conventional sense but are simply living in a simulation. Welcome to the Matrix? He seriously argues for this possibility.

That's an interesting perspective, I can kind of agree, although I do wonder whether in the future we'll need to pay for anything? Everything is essentially becoming free to us. What do you think? My only issue with AI, is ethics really. I'm not scared of AI, I am scared of people (governments) using it for the wrong reasons. For example self learning Ai, learning the internet and knowing all our online data and using it against us as a form of policing. Also, privacy feels like the new bottled water, that there is none, and to have it we'll need to pay. It can't all be doom and gloom, but with biotech emerging do you think that the singularity is becoming ever more so real? Are we looking at a life that is no longer threatened by mortality as we incorporate AI into ourselves?

@jerry_kaplan I just remember a cover of Wired saying 'Artificial Intelligence is here. But it's nothing like we expected. 'Do you believe that our imagination about robots and AI is still very different from reality? Article for example, said that while we waited humanoids AI gave us algorithms to stock trade that nobody can see, but can have a big impact in business.

Hi @jerry_kaplan, i'm a founder of a new product that uses adaptive technologies to build portfolio websites for creative individuals, based around the content they add. I'm looking for a killer inspiration quote to use in our material (preferably pulled from a video) that sums up the application of AI, machine learning in the fields of creativity, or as an aid to human creativity. I've found an old quote from Kurzweil (2010) which is okay, but I wondered if, with your knowledge of the industry, whether you had any go-to sources, or any suggestions of talks/presentations by specific individuals that might help me - anybody you think I should be looking at.

Absolutely correct --- I cover this in lurid detail in my book. We're looking for risks in the wrong direction. While it's easy to spot a menacing cyborg, we aren't adapted to recognize when we're getting screwed by invisible algorithms. Like viruses, they can be invisible but deadly. Unless we find ways to identify and neutralize these risks, things will just seem to get inexplicably worse for most people while a few take home all the riches -- laughing all the way to the bank and blaming the poor for their own circumstances.

Hi Product Hunt, I’m Jerry Kaplan – the old dude with the gray hair grinning in the picture. Here’s a little background. The boring bio is that I co-founded four Silicon Valley startups, two of which became publicly traded companies. My non-fiction novel “Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure” was named one of the top ten business books by Business Week. I’ve been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week, Red Herring, and Upside. I’ve got street cred: a Ph.D. in Computer Science from U of Pennsylvania, I’m a visiting lecturer in Computer Science at Stanford where I teach ethics and impact of Artificial Intelligence, and I’m a fellow at The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, whatever that is. The fun bio: I’ve got four girls ages 16-22. Two just got their first jobs, one for Udacity and one doing social media promotion for restaurants. (The latter thinks Erik Torenberg is super cool!) Neither profession existed when they were entering high school, which is a great indication of why our system of education (at least with respect to vocational training) is so messed up, and why wrote my new book. The book is not what you think it is. It’s full of amazing stories, for instance about my creepy old rich and famous tech industry friends, contrasted with a detailed description of how the American Dream was nothing more than a fairy tale for my former Admin Assistant. My last bestseller, “Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure” nearly got me run out of town, particularly after I sold the movie rights to Sony Pictures. I’ve done a lot of thinking about what’s real and what bull around AI, so AMAway. Bring your tin foil hat if you believe in the Singularity!