Gathering of the futurists, at the behest of Google and NASA, in Silicon Valley has begun to prep scientists for an era when machines become more clever than people. Don't know Singularity University's school colors just that the U is to be headed up by Ray Kurzweil, a controversial figure whose forecasts regarding exponential pace of technological change are ripe for debate. Kurzweil is becoming more mainstream as his forecast that before the middle of this century artificial intelligence (AI) will outperform humans.

Singularity University is located at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and will offer courses on biotechnology, nano-technology and artificial intelligence. Kurzweil's book written in 2005, “The Singularity is Near”, explains that singularity is a theorized period of rapid technological progress in the near future, in which machines will better themselves using AI and computers that are more intelligent than humans. The good that supposedly can evolve from these could involve finding answers to energy shortages, climate change and hunger.

Where there are strong opinions and theories, there are others who proclaim the potential for abuse that could result in the demise of the human race.

Kurzweil said the university was launching now because many technologies were approaching a moment of radical advancement. “We’re getting to the steep part of the curve,” said Mr Kurzweil. “It’s not just electronics and computers. It’s any technology where we can measure the information content, like genetics.” The school is backed by Larry Page, Google co-founder, and Peter Diamandis, chief executive of X-Prize, an organization which provides grants to support technological change.

The school will not be an accredited university, rather it will be modelled on the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, the interdisciplinary, multi-cultural school that Diamandis helped establish in 1987.