Editing Daniel Dennett (section)

=== Artificial intelligence ===
While approving of the increase in efficiency that humans reap by using resources such as expert systems in medicine or GPS in navigation, Dennett saw a danger in machines performing an ever-increasing proportion of basic tasks in perception, memory, and algorithmic computation because people may tend to anthropomorphize such systems and attribute intellectual powers to them that they do not possess.<ref>From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds, Daniel C. Dennett 2017 Penguin p. 402.</ref> He believed the relevant danger from [[artificial intelligence]] (AI) is that people will misunderstand the nature of basically "parasitic" AI systems, rather than employing them constructively to challenge and develop the human user's powers of comprehension.<ref>''From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds'', Daniel C. Dennett 2017 Penguin pp. 402–3.{{ISBN?}}</ref>

In the 1990s, Dennett collaborated with a group of computer scientists at [[MIT]] to attempt to develop a humanoid, conscious robot, named "Cog".<ref name="boag">{{cite web |last1=Boag |first1=Zan |title=The secret of consciousness, with Daniel C. Dennett |url=https://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/the-secret-of-consciousness-with-daniel-c-dennett/ |website=New Philosopher |access-date=14 November 2024 |date=12 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="natureObit" /> The project did not produce a conscious robot, but Dennett argued that in principle it could have.<ref name="boag"/>

As given in his penultimate book, ''[[From Bacteria to Bach and Back]]'', Dennett's views were contrary to those of [[Nick Bostrom]].<ref>''From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds'', Daniel C. Dennett 2017 Penguin p. 400.{{ISBN?}}</ref> Although acknowledging that it is "possible in principle" to create AI with human-like comprehension and agency, Dennett maintained that the difficulties of any such "[[Artificial general intelligence|strong AI]]" project would be orders of magnitude greater than those raising concerns have realized.<ref>''From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds'', Daniel C. Dennett 2017 Penguin pp. 164–5, 399–400.</ref> Dennett believed, as of the book's publication in 2017, that the prospect of [[superintelligence]] (AI massively exceeding the cognitive performance of humans in all domains) was at least 50 years away, and of far less pressing significance than other problems the world faces.<ref>''From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds'', Daniel C. Dennett 2017 Penguin pp. 399–400.</ref>