INFORMATIK 2021

It is reasonable to expect that AI capabilities will eventually exceed those of humans across a range of real-world-decision making scenarios. Should we "expect the machines to take control," as Alan Turing and others have suggested? Or will AI complement and augment human intelligence in beneficial ways? It turns out that both views are correct, but they are talking about completely different forms of AI. To achieve the positive outcome, a fundamental reorientation of the field is required. Instead of building systems that optimize arbitrary objectives, we need to learn how to build systems that will, in fact, be beneficial for us. I will argue that this is possible as well as necessary. The new approach to AI opens up many avenues for research, including several that connect to core questions in philosophy and the social sciences.