Episode Description: What is A.I. or artificial intelligence but the 'space of possible minds', argues Murray Shanahan, scientific advisor on the movie Ex Machina and Professor of Cognitive Robotics at Imperial College London. In this special episode of the a16z Podcast brought to you on the ground from London, Shanahan -- along with journalist-turned-entrepreneur Azeem Azhar (who also curates The Exponential View newsletter on AI and more) and The Economist Deputy Editor (and author of several tech history books) Tom Standage -- we discuss the past, present, and future of A.I. ... as well as how it fits (or doesn't fit) with machine learning and deep learning. But where are we now in the A.I. evolution? What players do we think will lead, if not win, the current race? And how should we think about issues such as ethics and jobs without descending into polar extremes? All this and more, including a surprise easter egg in Ex Machina shared by Shanahan, whose work influenced the movie.

A.I. has been around for decades now, both as an idea and as pioneering area of work. What amazes me is how it relentlessly, in cycles over-promises the future and always, without exception, under-delivers the reality.

I just listened to this. It was absolutely amazing! I will be picking up Shanahan's book for sure.