The setting: An intimate gathering at Singularity University’s NASA campus in Silicon Valley. This is the place founded by Dr. Peter Diamandis and Dr. Ray Kurzweil, pursuing the idea of a new university that could “leverage the power of exponential technologies to solve humanity’s grand challenges.” Speaking in an interview is artificial intelligence expert and Google’s new Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil.

Now you know this is worth visiting. His comments do not disappoint. In an interview with Singularity Hub, which was posted on January 10, he said he wants to build a search engine that would be more sophisticated than ever, that can behave as an all-knowing, learned friend. He said there well could be a time, some years from today, where the majority of search queries will be answered without you actually asking. His thoughts, in brief, are about the deliverance of a cybernetic friend. […]