Dictionary

paperclip maximizer en · NOUN

Etymology

Described by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003.

Meanings

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.
   • 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 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker:
   • A psychopathic leader in control of a sophisticated ANI system portends a far greater risk in the near term than a paperclip maximizer. 2017, Amir Husain, The Sentient Machine: The Coming Age of Artificial Intelligence, Souvenir Press:
   • 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. [2016, Olle Häggström, Here Be Dragons: Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity, Oxford University Press, page 116:
   • 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? 2019, Ben Orlin, Change Is the Only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World, New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, page 137:

Forms

wikipedia: Nick Bostrom