Ray Kurzweil, the famed inventor and futurist, said today that he would join Google, starting Monday, to work on “some of the hardest problems in computer science.”

Kurzweil’s title will be director of engineering. In a long statement on his Web site, he said he would focus on machine learning and language processing:

“I’ve been interested in technology, and machine learning in particular, for a long… read more

Google, like many top tech companies is always taking on new employees—but in landing Ray Kurzweil this week, the search giant hasn’t added your run-of-the-mill new hire.

A brilliant technologist who also happens to be one of the world’s most renowned futurists, Kurzweil announced on his blog Friday that he’ll be joining Google on Dec. 17 as a director of engineering. The 64-year-old author and inventor said he… read more

I recently interviewed author and inventor Ray Kurzweil about his new book, How to Create A Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed. The 58-minute segment aired on December 1, 2 and 3 on the C-SPAN2 program After Words. The book’s thesis is that it is essentially possible to reverse-engineer the human brain to create a computer mind that works like yours and mine. The advantages of such a creation, Kurzweil… read more

If you met a non-biological intelligent entity, one that demonstrated convincingly human-like emotional responses (it could laugh and cry, tell a joke, and argue), would you accept it as a conscious being, more or less equivalent to a person? Ray Kurzweil says he would, and much of his latest book focuses on trying to persuade readers to abandon long-held beliefs about the unique value of the human… read more

Kurzweil’s talk, which took place before our “Fireside Chat” that was announced as a surprise final event of the day’s proceedings, amounted to his first public appearance in connection with the publication of his new book, “How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed.”

Naturally, it builds a bit on his previous book, “The Singularity Is Near,” in which he argues that… read more

Think how far and how fast technology has advanced. Just a century and a half ago, the fastest way we could communicate with each other was by Pony Express. Then came the telegraph, telephones and computers, all revolutionizing the way we live, work and play — in just a few decades.

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil says soon we’ll be able to introduce tiny computers into our blood… read more

Ray Kurzweil foresees a disease-free world where no one ages and artificial brains make machines human-like — and he is not one to get things wrong. He is a pioneer, exploring a hinterland that lies just beyond the horizon of current possibilities; a twilight zone between science fact and fiction, between predictions rooted in existing technology and the wildest lunatic speculation.

Ray Kurzweil is an American… read more

When IBM’s Deep Blue defeated humanity’s greatest chess player Gary Kasparov in 1997 it marked a major turning point in the progress of artificial intelligence (AI). A still more impressive turning point in AI was achieved in 2011 when another creation of IBM named Watson defeated Jeopardy! phenoms Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter at their own game.

As time marches on and technology advances we can easily envision… read more

Inventor, futurist and author Ray Kurzweil has long predicted humans will one day be able to transcend the limitations of their biology. In a new book, Kurzweil explains why that day is coming sooner than we might think.

He argues that the expansion of the brain’s neocortex was the last biological evolution man needed to make. That’s because it is inevitably leading to “truly intelligent machines,”… read more

How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed by Ray Kurzweil is now #5 on The New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Nonfiction.

It came out at #1 among all books on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list and went into its third printing one week after publication. The book is available from the book’s official website and… read more