As a general concept (singularity)

In engineering, uniqueness is when a mechanism reaches a state where it can no longer predict what will happen next.

  

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In mathematics, singularity is the point at which a given set is behaving abnormally, or is not defined.

  

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Applied in AI (usually spelled "The Singularity")

The term was coined by John von Neumann in the mid-1950s.

It's basically the time when machine intelligence goes beyond the human, to the point where we lose control and the predictability of the situation. At this point, this machine can build even smarter machines, and who knows what they are going to decide on their own.

From Wikipedia:

  

"rampant reaction" of a self-improvement upgradeable intelligent agent (such as a computer running software-based artificial intelligence) would generate more and more rapidly individuals possessing a powerful super intelligence that, would surpass all human intelligence.

     

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Changing in kids what the Bacco said brilliantly in his response, the term refers to that moment or < (single-point), hence the term Singularity) in the history in which technology (focused on AI - artificial intelligence) would become so advanced that machines would pass to have a self-capacity for processing and infinite predictability, so that they would cease to be just slaves based on instructions and would make broader and more limitless decisions, in a way that was incomprehensible to human capacity. In the cinema, such a situation was dealt with in a fictional way in films such as The Matrix (1999), The Terminator of the Future (1984), AI - Artificial Intelligence (2001), among others.

Some renowned scientists have predicted such an event decades ago. To name a few, such as the well-known mathematician Alan Turing:

  

In his 1951 article entitled Intelligent Machinery: A Heretical   Theory , Alan Turing wrote about machines that eventually   will overcome human intelligence:

     

"Once the thinking method of the machine has begun, it   it will take a long time to overcome our weak powers. In some   At the moment, we should expect machines to take control of the   way which is mentioned in Samuel Butler's Erewhon. "

  

"Soon we will create intelligences greater than ours.   human history will attain a kind of singularity,   an intellectual transition as impenetrable as bound space-time   in the center of a black hole, and the world will go far beyond our   understanding. This singularity, I believe, already haunts   science fiction writers. This makes it impossible to extrapolate   realistic for an interstellar future. To write a story of   more than a century, it takes a nuclear war between ... so that the   world remains intelligible. "

Later, he further developed the concept in his essay The Coming Technological Singularity (1993):

  

"In thirty years, we will have the technological means to create   superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human age will be closed.   [...] I think it is fair to call this event a singularity. It is a   point at which our models should be discarded and a new reality   is valid. As we move closer and closer to this point, we will   and broader view of human affairs until the notion   become an ordinary place. However, when it finally   can be a great surprise and a greater unknown. "

It is important to emphasize that for Vinge, singularity can occur in four ways:

As the subject is ample and interesting, not to be too long, I finish the answer here. I hope it has helped a bit more in understanding.

I used the search source site below, which still provides 17 definitions of the term relating to their respective scientists:

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