Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has again reiterated his warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence. He tweeted on Monday that the international competition to have the best AI will probably be the trigger that will ignite World War 3.
Putin on artificial intelligence
Musk initially shared a link to an article about Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that the country which leads the way in artificial intelligence will rule the world. When speaking to a group of schoolchildren on Friday, the Russian leader also described the opportunities in AI as “colossal,” according to The Moscow Times, adding that there will also be “dangers that are difficult to predict today.”
After sharing the link about Putin’s comments, Musk warned that the competition Putin was referring to will ignite World War 3.
China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017
Musk warns that AI might ignite World War 3
Musk also clarified that it might not be the leaders of the countries that participate in the race for artificial intelligence that will start the war. He believes it could be one of the AIs that actually ignite World War 3 “if it decides that a prepemptive [sic] strike is most probable path to victory.”
He didn’t mention the bigger doomsday scenario, which is that artificial intelligence could turn against those that created it. Facebook recently had to shut down its AI because supposedly, it created its own alien language so it could talk without the engineers knowing what it said. It’s unclear whether that was just a publicity stunt, however, especially given the AI-related disagreement CEO Mark Zuckerberg had with Elon Musk shortly before that supposedly happened.
Elon Musk’s long-running concerns about artificial intelligence
The Tesla chief’s concerns about artificial intelligence are very well documented. He and a large group of AI experts sent a letter to the United Nations in August suggesting that AI weapons should be restricted. He has also been speaking out more and more about the potential dangers associated with artificial intelligence.
He has said that AI is the greatest threat to humanity, even bigger than North Korea, which has been carrying out nuclear tests and boasting of its nuclear might over the last several months. Many experts have been discussing the North Korean threat and whether they think the Kim regime will ignite World War 3.
