Elon Musk was speaking to employees at his firm, Neuralink, this month.He said that efforts to make AI safe only have 'a 5-10% chance of success'.The warning comes shortly after Musk said that regulation of AI was drastically needed because it's a 'fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation'.
Elon Musk has been very vocal about his concerns over
artificial intelligence, and now the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has quantified his
worries.
In a recent talk, Musk claimed that efforts to make AI safe only have 'a
five to 10 per cent chance of success.'
The warning comes shortly after Musk claimed that regulation of artificial
intelligence was drastically needed because it's a 'fundamental risk to the
existence of human civilisation.'
Musk was giving a talk to employees at one of his companies, Neuralink,
which is working on ways to implant technology into our brains to create
mind-computer interfaces, according to Rolling Stone.
He didn't hold back on his predictions about making AI safe, saying there
was 'maybe a five to 10 per cent chance of success.'
Musk added that the employees should 'sleep well' after his warning.
But the CEO then ate a piece of popcorn, before coughing, and added: 'We're
talking about threats to humanity, and I'm going to choke to death on popcorn.'
His latest claims follow a warning he made in July that regulation of
artificial intelligence is needed because it's a 'fundamental risk to the
existence of human civilisation.'
The billionaire said regulations will stop humanity from being outsmarted
by computers, or 'deep intelligence in the network', that can start wars by manipulating
information.
Governments must have a better understanding of artificial intelligence
technology's rapid evolution in order to fully comprehend the risks, he said.
'Once there is awareness, people will be extremely afraid, as they should
be...By the time we are reactive in AI regulation, it'll be too late,' he
added.
The billionaire made the comments during a question-and-answer session at
the summer conference of the National Governors Association in Rhode
Island.
'Normally the way regulations are set up is when a bunch of bad things
happen, there's a public outcry, and after many years a regulatory agency is
set up to regulate that industry,' said Musk.
'It takes forever. That, in the past, has been bad but not something which
represented a fundamental risk to the existence of civilization.'
Pressed for more specific guidance, Musk said the first step is for
government to get a better understanding of the fast-moving achievements in
developing artificial intelligence technology.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder was reiterating his long-held argument that it
is needed soon to protect humanity from intelligent machines.
He has previously compared AI to 'summoning the devil'.
When asked at the 2016 Code Conference in California if the answer to the
question of whether we are in a simulated computer game was 'yes', Musk said
'probably.'
Musk believes that computer game technology, particularly virtual reality, is
already approaching a point that it is indistinguishable from reality.
'If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become
indistinguishable from reality, just indistinguishable,' he said.
'Even if the speed of those advancements dropped by 1000.
'We are clearly on a trajectory to have games indistinguishable from
reality, and there would be billions of there.
'It would seem to follow that the odds that we're in 'base reality' is one
in billions', Musk said.
-WHAT IS NEURALINK?
Elon Musk's latest company Neuralink is working to link the human brain
with a machine interface by creating micron-sized devices.
Neuralink was registered in California as a 'medical research' company last
July, and he plans on funding the company mostly by himself.
It will work on what Musk calls the 'neural lace' technology, implanting
tiny brain electrodes that may one day upload and download thoughts.
He said 'neural laces' will help people with severe brain injuries in just
four years.
And in eight to ten years, the Matrix-style technology will be available to
everyone, he added.
-MUSK: WE MAY LIVE IN A SIMULATION
When asked at the 2016 Code Conference in California if the answer to the
question of whether we are in a simulated computer game was 'yes', Elon Musk
said 'probably.'
Musk believes that computer game technology, particularly virtual reality, is
already approaching a point that it is indistinguishable from reality.
'If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become
indistinguishable from reality, just indistinguishable,' he said.
'Even if the speed of those advancements dropped by 1000,
'We are clearly on a trajectory to have games indistinguishable from
reality, and there would be billions of there.
'It would seem to follow that the odds that we're in 'base reality' is one
in billions', Mr Musk said.
**http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5110787/Elon-Musk-says-10-chance-making-AI-safe.html