Microsoft will force its 'superintelligence' to be a 'humanist' and play nice with people

Microsoft has joined the ranks of tech giants chasing superintelligent artificial intelligence, but the company's AI chief Mustafa Suleyman’s vision is markedly different from that articulated by other industry leaders

To be clear, “superintelligent AI” hasn't been invented yet. Pundits use the term to describe systems that appear to "think" independently of what humans program them to do, an ability that some previously described as “artificial general intelligence," or AGI.

Suleyman announced he's heading up a new AI Superintelligence Team at Microsoft in a blog post Thursday. The key difference in Microsoft's vision, Suleyman said, is the vision of a humanist superintelligence, or HSI, that trades blind AI ambition for carefully planned limitations to make sure AI helps rather than harms us.

"This isn't about some directionless technological goal, an empty challenge, a mountain for its own sake," Suleyman said. "We are doing this ...