Much of the talk around AI is hyperbolic, speculative, and often misses the point. In our attempts to recreate our own intelligence using conventional computers we have ended up creating energy inefficient and over engineered systems that rely more on computation scale than “intelligence”. If we want intelligent machines as efficient as our own brains, then we must mimic how it computes. Following recent developments in architecture and learning, Jonathan Peters argues that the future of AI will be analogue.

The rise to prominence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is arguably the most important technological change since the turn of the 21^st Century. So rapid have the technological advancements been that in a matter of a few years global understanding and perspectives on AI have changed from ignorance to a mixture of intrigue, curiosity, and fear of the unknown future consequences.