We should no longer research or attempt to create an AI or Super intelligence

Many thanks to my opponent for beginning this debate. My opponent has three main contentions: 1. Researching AI has absorbed a lot of funds that could have been spent on better things. 2. Researching AI "has been wasted on... nothing more than complex programs which are able to behave different depending on their visual or audio input, with previous coding dictating what that input means." 3. Talented minds are being wasted on the conundrum of creating consciousness out of code, while many more computer science advancements could have been made in the meantime. First and foremost, my opponent should explain what better things the money could have been spent on aside from Artificial Intelligence. While he claims talented minds have been "wasted" on this research, I contend that AI has done some pretty interesting things over the last 60 years. So far AI - deployed speech dialog systems used by firms like IBM, Dragon and Lernout & Hauspie - software developed in the 1970s translated natural language weather forecasts to communicate weather patterns that could predict natural disasters - has created significant advancement in financial software, which is used by banks to scan credit card transactions for unusual patterns that might signal fraud. One piece of software is estimated to save banks $500 million annually - shown effective applications of expert systems/case-based reasoning -- for example a computerized Leukemia diagnosis system did a better job checking for blood disorders than human experts [1]. The reality is that AI does not get a lot of credit for what it has already achieved. Algorithms originally developed by AI researchers began to appear as parts of larger systems. Smart Phones and GPS were created largely in part to Artificial Intelligence. AI had solved a lot of very difficult problems and their solutions proved to be useful throughout the technology industry, such as data mining [2], industrial robotics [3], logistics [4], speech recognition [5], banking software [6], medical diagnosis [7] and Google's search engine [8]. Indeed Google has invested a lot of money on AI research as have other companies per Pro's very own point. This means a lot of jobs are being created in the tech industry -- jobs that contribute to human advancement, as we can see from the aforementioned list of ways AI has benefitted our society. However these jobs for engineers and technicians and computer scientists and analysts and data experts, etc. not only fuel our economy, but they are looking toward the future to do even more good. Artificial intelligence can help alleviate the difficulties faced by man, especially by doing things that man simply cannot. For example, artificial intelligence allows for space exploration at a far greater capacity than we could without AI. Robots can explore space and provide information about the universe that could benefit us here on Earth. NASA says AI helps astronauts for planning and other practical endeavors [9]. Artificial intelligence can also help us mine for resources here on Earth, such as digging for fuels and exploring oceans. With artificial intelligence, the chances of error are greatly reduced. It allows for more accuracy and precision, which is important for surgery and other procedures that require straightforward movement. AI can be used to carry out time consuming and painstaking tasks that are dangerous, laborious or that people simply don't want to do. Machines can also continuously perform without breaks, which means they can be efficient tools in the labor market (and reduce the cost of goods in the economy). In conclusion, artificial intelligence has been looking for ways (and succeeding) to improve the human condition. Our entertainment, health care and environmental concerns are being alleviated and explored through AI. Money invested in AI is not being wasted. Great successes have come to fruition and many more are being pursued. [1] http://www.globalguideline.com... [2] http://www.hindawi.com... [3] http://www.techinsider.io... [4] http://ai.uni-bremen.de... [5] http://www.scirp.org... [6] http://fobiss.com... [7] http://www.wired.com... [8] http://www.wired.com... [9] http://www.nasa.gov...