Mind machine

It was nice to see some measured views on artificial intelligence (AI) in the Christmas issue (317) from Garry Kasparov. From I, Robot to

The Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey, science fiction has been fuelling our anxiety about AI for decades, without nodding to the innumerable benefits. The world is full of hugely complex problems like climate change, antibiotic resistance and famine, with more variables affecting them than any human mind can handle. This is why we need the brain power of something artificial that can use brute force processing to crack these puzzles. There may be risks, but if we stand still on AI, we could be risking millions of lives. James Munroe, Guildford

AI is not trying to kill us, no matter how creepy it looks, says James Munroe

Simon Bartlett says that tests have shown that sound is not subjective