About Us

Our History

  • 2009

    Michael Vassar joined SIAI as President. Funded by the Google Summer of Code, work continued on OpenCog, Director of Research Dr. Ben Goertzel's open source software project aimed at providing a generic framework for the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) software. 11 interns participated. The SIAI Visiting Fellows Program was founded in June, bringing 14 researchers (mostly graduate students) to Silicon Valley for summer work on papers focused on AI growth modeling, the role of discounting in utilitarian models, and more. This summer program was followed up with continuing fellowships on a rolling basis. In October, the Singularity Summit 2009 was held, with over 800 attendees and media coverage from Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Forbes. SIAI participated in the founding of the web community Less Wrong, where SIAI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky finished a major writing project which will be organized into a book on human rationality.

  • 2008

    Director of Research Dr. Ben Goertzel announced OpenCog, described above. Funded through the Google Summer of Code, 11 OpenCog interns contributed work to OpenCog-related projects. SIAI also funded two additional summer research groups, composed mainly of grad students: one focused on mathematics and other focused on creating a probabilistic modeling tool to explore futures around intelligence enhancement, AI, and associated catastrophic risk. Eliezer Yudkowsky presented at Convergence 2008. The Singularity Summit 2008 was held, where Goertzel gave a talk on OpenCog.

  • 2007

    Ray Kurzweil joined the board of directors. Dr. Ben Goertzel became director of research to develop the SIAI Research Program. Bruce Klein joined as director of outreach to expand SIAI's education and outreach efforts. The Singularity Summit 2007 was announced. The Singularity Summit at Stanford DVD and online media were released. The Singularity Challenge 2007 and SIAI Donor Network were announced to build the institute's donor base for support of research, education, and outreach expansion in 2007.

  • 2006

    SIAI co-sponsored the Singularity Summit at Stanford, organized by Tyler Emerson in collaboration with Ray Kurzweil. Eliezer Yudkowsky released “Artificial Intelligence as a Positive and Negative Factor in Global Risk” and “Cognitive Biases Potentially Affecting Judgment of Global Risks”, published as chapters in Global Catastrophic Risks (Oxford, 2008). Yudkowsky presented at the Bay Area Future Salon, Singularity Summit, and AGI Workshop. SIAI raised $200,000 through a challenge grant backed by Clarium Capital President Peter Thiel, following which Marcello Herreshoff was hired as a research associate, and Allison Taguchi joined as director of development. Peter Thiel, Barney Pell and Neil Jacobstein became advisors.

  • 2005

    Eliezer Yudkowsky released “A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation,” an essay on Bayesian probability theory, rationality, and philosophy of science. SIAI presented at Stanford, the Immortality Institute's Life Extension Conference, and Terasem's Colloquium on the Law of Transhuman Persons. SIAI relocated to Silicon Valley. SIAI-Canada was founded. Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey became advisors.

  • 2004

    Eliezer Yudkowsky released “Coherent Extrapolated Volition,” updating his Friendly AI theory. SIAI's “3 Laws Unsafe” campaign launched in conjunction with the film release of I, Robot to inform the public that Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics were unsafe as a framework for safe AI. Nick Bostrom and Christine Peterson became founding advisors. Tyler Emerson joined as the executive director.