Consciousness is also not necessarily relevant. Once machines start to influence the design of new machines in ways that are hard to examine in detail they can

Consciousness is also not necessarily relevant. Once machines start to influence the design of new machines in ways that are hard to examine in detail they can gain capabilities that are unexpected and unwanted. Machines capable of this kind of influence and of concealing capabilities will naturally become more common simply through a combination of natural and artificial selection. No consciousness is required for such entities to become competitors. For an examination of the idea of intelligence without consciousness see Peter Watts' Blindsight.