Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine (Good, 1965)

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Foundational 1965 paper by I.J. Good that introduced the intelligence explosion concept; the DOI link is broken but the paper is widely available and frequently cited in AI safety literature. Original reference: Advances in Computers, Vol. 6, pp. 31-88.

Metadata

Importance: 85/100journal articleprimary source

Summary

I.J. Good's seminal 1965 paper introducing the concept of the 'intelligence explosion,' arguing that an ultraintelligent machine capable of surpassing human intellect could design even more capable machines, leading to runaway recursive self-improvement. This work is foundational to modern AI safety and existential risk thinking, coining the idea that the first ultraintelligent machine would be the last invention humanity ever needs to make.

Key Points

•Introduced the 'intelligence explosion' concept: a sufficiently advanced machine could recursively improve itself, rapidly surpassing human intelligence.
•Argued that an ultraintelligent machine would be humanity's last invention, as it could outperform humans in all intellectual tasks.
•Early formal treatment of existential risk from superintelligent AI, predating most modern AI safety discourse by decades.
•Raised implicit concerns about control and corrigibility: whether humans could maintain oversight of a recursively self-improving system.
•DOI link is broken/incomplete; paper originally published in Advances in Computers, Vol. 6 (Elsevier).

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
Instrumental Convergence	Risk	64.0

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### 10.1016/S0065-2458(08

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