Science & Technology

Hawking warns that AI could destroy us all

By T.K. Randall
December 2, 2014 ·  68 comments

Could intelligent machines end up destroying us ? Image Credit: sxc.hu The idea of building an intelligent, sentient machine has been explored in books and movies for years, often with devastating results. In popular film franchises such as 'The Terminator' and 'The Matrix', humanity's ability to produce an artificially intelligent computer has inevitably led to the destruction of the human race.

Now theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has put forward concerns which echo the themes of these movies by stating that our efforts to produce a thinking machine could backfire.

"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," he said. "It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded." Elsewhere however the development of intelligent machines is being hailed as a potentially world-changing breakthrough that could have a positive effect on all our lives.

"I believe we will remain in charge of the technology for a decently long time and the potential of it to solve many of the world problems will be realised," said Rollo Carpenter, creator of Cleverbot.

How the technology will ultimately pan out however remains to be seen.

Source: BBC News | Comments (68)

Tags: Stephen Hawking, Artificial Intelligence