Cliff, thank you - and of sharing the your well-informed perspective. I wonder though if it is an analogy to call what such AIs accumulate "experience"? I mean, maybe it is a good analogy, but doesn't experience imply consciousness? Per your previous notes, such systems might be intelligent, but they would not necessarily be conscious.

I have to say, the prospect makes me deeply uncomfortable (Skynet!). Like the nuclear arms race, does humanity have clue about the destination we are hastening towards?