Microsoft official says a 'new kind of digital species' has been created

The boss of Microsoft's AI division has said that people really need to change their perspective of the emergence of artificial intelligence, and that a different way of thinking about the new technology is consider it a new "species".

DeepMind co-founder, and current CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, held a TED talk last week where he explained his vision for a world that will be mostly driven by artificial intelligence. Suleyman spoke to the crowd and said that it may be useful to think of AI as "something like a new digital species", with his prediction being that humans will come to view AI as "digital companions" and "new partners in the journeys of all our lives."

Suleyman's idea is that artificial intelligence will become so engrained into our everyday lives, much like smartphones have, that we will begin to consider AI-powered pieces of tech, such as Siri, more of a virtual being rather than a tool. This change is perspective will be enabled by the AI's language model that will be designed to enable a much more fluent interaction and response.

"They'll have near-perfect IQ," he Suleyman. "They'll also have exceptional EQ. They'll be kind, supportive, empathetic."

"They'll be companions, confidants, colleagues, friends and partners, as varied and unique as we all are," said Suleyman. "They'll speak every language, take in every pattern of sensor data, sights, sounds, streams and streams of information, far surpassing what any one of us could consume in a thousand lifetimes."