DictionarysingularityArtificial intelligence turning point
noun

singularity

A hypothetical point when artificial intelligence far surpasses human capabilities.

Some researchers predict a singularity when AI vastly outperforms humans.

Etymology

The AI term borrows the mathematical image of a point where ordinary description fails. It proposes a technological transition beyond which familiar predictions cease to work.

More examples

  • Predictions about the singularity depend on how quickly AI improves.
  • In this novel, the singularity transforms how people live and work.
  • No one knows when, or whether, the singularity will occur.

Forms

singularity · singularities

Similar words

intelligence explosion
Describes runaway growth in intelligence rather than a hypothetical threshold.
superintelligence
Names intelligence exceeding human abilities, not the turning point itself.