I suspect we already have several near-AIs in our midst, some beyond the ability of a single human brain, but we don't recognize them because we impose needless

I suspect we already have several near-AIs in our midst, some beyond the ability of a single human brain, but we don't recognize them because we impose needless constraints on the definition of "AI" and claim that only things that meet those artificial constraints qualify as AI. A typical unvoiced (possibly false) assumption about AI amongst even AI experts might be something like: "Well it has to be a system that was designed by human experts, in order to qualify... something that just emerges from human activity is not an AI." A few things that could qualify, if we relaxed this and other false constraints: - The global financial system, when viewed as a single entity. - The consciousness formed by the combination of the Internet along with all the minds of the people who use it (what Kevin Kelly has called "the one"). - Google's systems, at least some of them. These things are creeping up on us. Just taking the first one, the global financial system is barely under control (or maybe not at all), although many different human controlled entities do hold the reins of various facets of it. It has self awareness, senses, learning, built in agendas, competing sub-entities with agency and their own various agendas, defense mechanisms, and ways of exerting influence. One could argue it also has a global agenda (balance might be a word for it... a decent agenda, for the moment, fortunately). We've seen how it can sometimes go off the rails in ways that have challenging if not disastrous consequences for the well being of humanity. We don't call it AI, but it's certainly something that bears watching almost as much as an AI would. Just like the other examples I mentioned.