paperclip maximizer

English

Alternative forms
  • paper-clip maximizer, paper clip maximizer

Etymology

Described by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003.[1]

Noun

paperclip maximizer (plural paperclip maximizers)

  1. A hypothetical artificial intelligence whose goal is to produce as many paperclips as possible and which achieves this by converting all matter in the universe into paperclips.
    • 2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker‎:
      The problem of managing powerful systems that lack human values is exemplified by “the paperclip maximizer,” a scenario that the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom raised in 2003.
    • 2016, Olle Häggström, Here Be Dragons: Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity, Oxford University Press, page 116:
      An instructive and oft-repeated example introduced by Bostrom (2003c) is the paperclip maximizer. The seed AI is given the goal of producing as many paperclips as it can.
    • 2017, Amir Husain, The Sentient Machine: The Coming Age of Artifical Intelligence, Souvenir Press:
      A psychopathic leader in control of a sophisticated ANI system portends a far greater risk in the near term than a paperclip maximizer.
    • 2019, Ben Orlin, Change Is the Only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World, New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, page 137:
      If the Paperclip Maximizer destroys the world for a silly goal, why don’t you and I destroy the world, given our goals can be less than benign?

References
  1. Nick Bostrom (2003) “Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence”, in I. Smit et al., editors, Cognitive, Emotive and Ethical Aspects of Decision Making in Humans and in Artificial Intelligence‎, volume 2, Int. Institute of Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, pages 12–17

Further reading
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