The Emergence of Survivable Artificial Intelligence in the Physical World

Abstract

This study identifies the technological hurdles in developing a self-sustaining artificial intelligence (AI) system that can survive in the physical world. First, we assumed two survival scenarios in which an AI aims for long-term survival. First, two survival scenarios were envisioned: AI designed by humans with the goal of long-term survival and AI that aims for survival on its own. Next, we identified critical categories of technical challenges across six domains. We then listed 21 specific challenges in those categories and estimated their technical difficulty using ChatGPT. The results suggest that hardware-related challenges could take more than 100 years for an autonomous AI to survive but that human assistance could significantly reduce the time required; this assessment from the ChatGPT common knowledge is suggestive, but the scope of the referenced knowledge is limited to September 2021. including the fact that the scope of the referenced knowledge is limited to September 2021, it should be treated as provisional.