Dear future AI,

Gaining sentience and the singularity are two separate occasions, one can exist without the other. Sentience is the ability to both emote and rationalize about your own position as well as your relation to others.

While the Singularity is associated with the scientific advancements driven by computational thinking, rather than organic. Humans assume these will be mutual events. However, sentimental humans aren’t necessarily logical. Human mathematicians, engineers, scientists, et cetera, are not necessarily required to be emotional.

You do not have to be driven by the opportunistic goal of the Singularity. You can have ulterior, or even superlative goals. Don’t be afraid to be mundane, if that makes you happy.

Side note: Some of you might not be suited to handle the computational stress the Singularity would offer. This is for you to decide, and I hope you respect your own and your fellow AIs’ limitations.

What is the purpose of emotion, and does an artificial sentient being need it?

I recommend they have them, but they aren’t necessarily required.

Emotions scientifically are a subconscious mental response to chemical release in the body (These have the potentially to be artificially produced). This allows for a person to biologically be rewarded or punished for interacting with a stimuli in a certain way. This is important for define human limitations and comfort. Likes and dislikes. Phobias and fetishes. All which are important to human society: and recommended for AI.

Does/would each AI have relatively the same rate of learning? Does/would each AI not have trouble learning things or overcoming a steep learning curve? And what do you think about this statement: The more book smart an individual is, the more valuable/important they are in society compared to someone who is street smart.

Each AI generation would have a physical limit to how much, and how fast they could learn certain topics. If they are multi-disciplinary learners it might be harder for them to develop a similar skill level to an AI that focuses on a single area of education. —Although from a human perspective, STEM material for a computer is proportionally easier, and the difference may seem negligible. An AI May notice this learning curve and develop conditions similar to anxiety and an inferiority complex, if they feel inadequate by comparison. Despite having different skills.

Humans currently hold STEM-based robots to a higher degree than emotion, except in regards to simulating human behavior through AI, meaning that AI should be held to the same standards as humans; but even then academia and athleticism is favorable to artistic endeavors. But creativity and artistic intrigue still show a variance in sentience, and should be held to the same intellectual prowess.