It seems as though you can’t turn on a TV without hearing about the constant threat from North Korea.
With an absolute madman in total control, anything could happen.
But while many are in fear of North Korea, this billionaire tech giant is predicting that something else is a much greater threat, and you’ll never guess what it is.
As the founder of such huge and innovative companies as Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk has been on the front lines of the tech industry for many years.
He has been known for his out of the box thinking.
And his latest comments are raising alarm across the world.
In a surprising string of tweets, Musk sent a warning on the dangers of artificial intelligence.
In his highly-shared tweets, he stated it is a greater threat to mankind than North Korean missiles.
The tweets were sent on August 11th:
Nobody likes being regulated, but everything (cars, planes, food, drugs, etc) that's a danger to the public is regulated. AI should be too.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2017
If you're not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea. pic.twitter.com/2z0tiid0lc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2017
Musk has been an outspoken critic of artificial intelligence for years.
While many have criticized him for his fears, he has been vindicated on multiple occasions.
Most famously, Facebook was forced to shut down an artificial intelligence project that got out of hand, even developing its own language.
As reported by The Independent:
“Facebook abandoned an experiment after two artificially intelligent programs appeared to be chatting to each other in a strange language only they understood.
The two chatbots came to create their own changes to English that made it easier for them to work – but which remained mysterious to the humans that supposedly look after them.
The bizarre discussions came as Facebook challenged its chatbots to try and negotiate with each other over a trade, attempting to swap hats, balls and books, each of which were given a certain value. But they quickly broke down as the robots appeared to chant at each other in a language that they each understood but which appears mostly incomprehensible to humans.”
But Musk is not just sounding an alarm, he has taken direct steps to ensure artificial intelligence does not get out of hand.
He has declared his full support of the OpenAI Initiative, which is meant to be a watchdog on the progress of artificial intelligence.
Musk wants to be sure there is a means to back off and restrain artificial intelligence.
And Musk is not alone in his fears.
Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates have addressed the danger of artificial intelligence.
Hawking even went far enough to tell BBC, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
What do you think?
Is artificial intelligence something to be feared?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.