As usual, politics is the mind-killer, and being a member of the 'transhumanist' party does not make you exempt from this. I fail to immediately see why it is important which country superintelligence is first developed in, except empty nationalistic sentiments.
Everything we have learned from thinking about FAI is that the distinction between friendly/unfriendly AI goes far deeper than the intentions of its creators. The most moral person could wind up developing the most evil UFAI.
Now, to some extent I expect many Americans, on reflection, would at least partly agree with the above statement - and that should be concerning.
I agree.
From this article by Zoltan Istvan, in regards to the looming Global AI Arms race, he says:
Now, to some extent I expect many Americans, on reflection, would at least partly agree with the above statement - and that should be concerning.
Consider the issue from the perspective of Russian, Chinese (or really any foreign) readers with similar levels of national pride.
One equivalent postionally reflected statement from a foreign perspective might read like this:
On a related note, there was an interesting panel recently with Robin Li (CEO of Baidu), Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. They spent a little time discussing AI superintelligence. Robin Li mentioned that his new head of research - Andrew Ng - doesn't believe superintelligence is an immediate threat. In particular Ng said: "Worrying about AI risk now is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars." Li also mentioned that he has been advocating for a large chinese government investment in AI.