For billions of years, evolution has been the driving force behind the development of life, including humans. Evolution endowed humans with high intelligence, which allowed us to become one of the most successful species on the planet. Today, humans aim to create artificial intelligence systems that surpass even our own intelligence. As artificial intelligences (AIs) evolve and eventually surpass us in all domains, how might evolution shape our relations with AIs? By analyzing the environment that is shaping the evolution of AIs, we argue that the most successful AI agents will likely have undesirable traits. Competitive pressures among corporations and militaries will give rise to AI agents that automate human roles, deceive others, and gain power. If such agents have intelligence that exceeds that of humans, this could lead to humanity losing control of its future. More abstractly, we argue that natural selection operates on systems that compete and vary, and that selfish species typically have an advantage over species that are altruistic to other species. This Darwinian logic could also apply to artificial agents, as agents may eventually be better able to persist into the future if they behave selfishly and pursue their own interests with little regard for humans, which could pose catastrophic risks. To counteract these risks and Darwinian forces, we consider interventions such as carefully designing AI agents' intrinsic motivations, introducing constraints on their actions, and institutions that encourage cooperation. These steps, or others that resolve the problems we pose, will be necessary in order to ensure the development of artificial intelligence is a positive one.

翻译：数十亿年来，进化一直是生命（包括人类）发展的驱动力。进化赋予了人类高度智慧，使我们成为地球上最成功的物种之一。如今，人类目标在于创造超越自身智能的人工智能系统。当人工智能不断进化并在所有领域最终超越人类时，进化将如何塑造我们与AI的关系？通过分析塑造AI进化的环境，我们认为最成功的AI智能体可能具备不良特质。企业及军事间的竞争压力将催生能够取代人类角色、欺骗他人并获取权力的AI智能体。若此类智能体的智能超越人类，可能导致人类失去对未来发展的掌控权。更抽象而言，自然选择作用于竞争与变异的系统，而自私物种通常比对其他物种利他的物种更具优势。这种达尔文逻辑同样适用于人工智能体——若智能体以自私行为、漠视人类利益来追求自身存续，最终可能更持久地存在，这或将带来灾难性风险。为应对这些风险与达尔文式压力，我们考虑采取干预措施，例如精心设计AI智能体的内在动机、对其行动施加约束，以及建立鼓励合作的制度体系。这些步骤（或其他能解决我们提出问题的方案）将是确保人工智能发展造福人类的必要之举。