Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey source: www.monstersinmotion.com
The impending
demise of mankind is not something that regularly arises as a topic of
international heated debate. Sure, you might come across your odd doomsayer or
cult leader espousing the benefits of joining him into eternity, but an
international conversation about the future of our race is something else.
As more things move
to the internet of things and we learn that hackers can now remotely control your car, the ethics surrounding technology has been sparked by none other than
the face of cutting edge technology himself, Elon Musk.
The CEO of electric
car manufacturer Tesla and investor of privateer space exploration company
Space X, Musk has described Artificial Intelligence (or AI) as humanity’s
“biggest existential threat”. He has made these claims after joining Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Ashton Kutcher, the actor chosen to portray Steve Jobs
in the 2013 film depicting his life, as high-profile investors in an Artificial
Intelligence company named Vicarious.
The ethics
surrounding AI are not anything new. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey
had a rogue AI spaceship named Hal that gave humans a less-than-ideal time.
1999 film The Matrix envisaged an extremely pessimistic outcome for humanity,
living in underground tunnels as robots farmed us for energy. Musk has taken
this debate off the film reel and into our headlines.
Musk has explained
that his investments in Vicarious are a way of “keeping an eye on what’s going
on”, as opposed to a money-making venture. As the conversation around AI
snowballs, he is also one of the high-profile signatures on the recent open letter urging the United Nations to ban lethal autonomous weapons systems,
joining Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
The growing rumble
of these tech greats surrounding the dangers posed by AI can be interpreted in
many ways. Toby Walsh, an artificial intelligence professor, has said that AI
is technology “that can help tackle many of the pressing problems facing society
today”. Musk has said advancing AI is like “summoning the demon”.
Whatever your take,
it is clear that the Point of Singularity, or the point when technology is able
to redesign itself and improve, is inching ever closer.
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