The disagreement points, perhaps, to a deeper confusion about what it means to possess human-level intelligence: even as computer programs achieve milestones that used to be considered essential tests of human intelligence (playing chess, conversing with a human being), more milestones appear to be added (such as recognizing objects, using natural language, or understanding a scene).

There are several possible paths to the singularity, including the creation of intelligent machines (which may enable humans to create superintelligent machines, or may enable machines to redesign their own programming to enhance their intelligence, in what is sometimes known as an "intelligence explosion"); whole brain emulation (also known as "mind uploading"); enhancement of humans' own biological intelligence (through genetic engineering, for example); and the development of more sophisticated brain-computer interfaces.

It is not sufficient, then, to consider a machine as an AGI if it can beat a world champion at chess, but that same machine cannot hold a simple conversation or tie its shoelaces.

To date, money has been the biggest obstacle to manned moon missions. McKay says that working with private companies, utilizing innovations such as 3-D printing, and taking advantage of off-the-shelf electronics could make a moon base affordable. "It's not that much harder than supplying and operating the space station," he says.

"Why do we need self-driving cars or robots?" you'll hear many say.

lawyers, professors

it has increased employment through spillover effects: more productive workers can afford to buy more goods and services, which supplies more jobs to those providing them

On congested urban streets and narrow rural lanes, driverless cars are a distant if not impossible dream.

symbiotic partners

To fund this, tax rates will have to be high. The government will not only have to subsidize most people's lives and work; it will also have to compensate for the loss of individual tax revenue previously collected from employed individuals.

The solution to the problem of mass unemployment, I suspect, will involve ''service jobs of love.''

This transformation will result in enormous profits for the companies that develop A.I., as well as for the companies that adopt it

Bank tellers, customer service representatives, telemarketers, stock and bond traders, even paralegals and radiologists

What Naumov points out, however, is that while AI may not, in fact, replace the human interaction, it could, in fact, go hand in hand to offer a better customer experience when used as the incredible tool it was intended to be.

Naumov knows that AI is here to stay and that what we are seeing is just the beginning.

Ginni Rometty, the CEO of IBM came up with the concept that if you reverse the letters AI to IA, you go from Artificial Intelligence to Intelligent Assistant

DigitalGenius is a leader in the “Human plus AI” movement, the concept that AI is best used when teamed up with people.