The AI Crackpot Index
A simple method for evaluating any claim about artificial intelligence or machine learning
1. A -5 point starting credit. 2. 1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false. 3. 2 points for every statement that is clearly vacuous. 4. 3 points for every statement that is logically inconsistent. 5. 5 points for each such statement that is adhered to despite careful correction. 6. 5 points for each use of the terms “AGI”, “singularity”, “superintelligence”, “intelligence explosion” etc. as if they refer to specific future events. 7. 5 points each time a claim is justified largely by appeal to popular media examples (eg “a Terminator-like scenario”). 8. 10 points for each mention of "Bostrom", "Yudkowsky", “Musk”, or any person associated with the “Intellectual Dark Web”. 9. 10 points for each mention of Roko’s Basilisk or Paperclip Maximizers. 10. 10 points for each mention of The Chinese Room argument. 11. 10 points for each mention of The Simulation Hypothesis or the “multiverse” 12. 10 points for each use of the phrase “taking over the world”. 13. 20 points for each insistence that preventing eschatological (“end of the world”) scenarios should take precedence over all other practical and ethical concerns. 14. 30 points for treating any discussion of ethical and regulatory oversight, as is common practice across industries, as a nightmare scenario of government overreach and stifled innovation. (10 more points for comparing such oversight to Nazis, stormtroopers, or brownshirts). 15. 40 points for anyone using or suggesting the use of AI to classify and/or rank people by intelligence, race, sex, gender, beauty, or other social categories (eg, “criminality”). 16. 50 points for drawing any connection whatsoever between AI and blockchain/cryptocurrencies