Science & Technology

Elon Musk warns of 'immortal AI dictator'

By T.K. Randall
April 9, 2018

Image: Elon Musk at the SpaceX CRS-8 post-launch press conference
Credit: Kim Shiflett / (PD) NASA Musk is certainly no stranger to speaking out about the dangers of artificial intelligence, especially given its potential to eventually equal or even surpass the capabilities of its creators.

In a recent documentary by American filmmaker Chris Paine, Musk outlined a scenario in which an immortal 'superintelligence' could end up controlling the lives of every human on Earth.

"The least scary future I can think of is one where we have at least democratized AI because if one company or small group of people manages to develop godlike digital superintelligence, they could take over the world," he said.

"At least when there's an evil dictator, that human is going to die. But for an AI, there would be no death. It would live forever.""And then you'd have an immortal dictator from which we can never escape."

Movies such as The Terminator and The Matrix have already explored the idea of a future in which mankind has been brought to the brink of extinction by an unstoppable artificial intelligence.

But could something like Skynet ever actually exist in the real world ?

"If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it. No hard feelings," said Musk.

"It's just like, if we're building a road and an anthill just happens to be in the way, we don't hate ants, we're just building a road, and so, goodbye anthill."

Source: CNBC

Tags: Artificial Intelligence