An existing, ecologically-successful genus of collectively intelligent artificial creatures

TL;DR

The paper discusses the ecological success of corporations as collective intelligent entities that coexist with humans, emphasizing the need to define their rights and responsibilities for societal harmony.

Contribution

It highlights corporations as a naturally successful form of collective intelligence and calls for frameworks to regulate their societal roles.

Findings

Corporations act as ecologically-successful collective intelligent agents.

Recognizing corporations as intelligent beings can inform societal regulation.

Addressing corporate responsibilities can improve coexistence with humans.

Abstract

People sometimes worry about the Singularity [Vinge, 1993; Kurzweil, 2005], or about the world being taken over by artificially intelligent robots. I believe the risks of these are very small. However, few people recognize that we already share our world with artificial creatures that participate as intelligent agents in our society: corporations. Our planet is inhabited by two distinct kinds of intelligent beings --- individual humans and corporate entities --- whose natures and interests are intimately linked. To co-exist well, we need to find ways to define the rights and responsibilities of both individual humans and corporate entities, and to find ways to ensure that corporate entities behave as responsible members of society.