When it comes to talking about futuristic developments like artificial intelligence or giving humans the ability to become an interplanetary species, Elon Musk is our man. The genius billionaire doesn’t hesitate to speak openly about the dystopian future that awaits humanity if AI becomes more intelligent than humans. And who can blame him? With the speed at which artificial intelligence is seeping into our daily lives, it won’t be a surprise if it soon takes over the world.
Elon believes, that AI should be well-regulated so that the fast-paced development does not cause humans to lose control. We as an intelligent species may not be able to stop the growth of artificial intelligence, but we can definitely curb the power it has over us.
To understand the influence of AI on humanity, let’s take a look at what Elon has to say about it.
- Elon Musk gives his two cents about AI in a documentary by Chris Pain, where he talks about AI becoming so powerful that it inevitably governs over humanity. And if humans retaliate against artificial intelligence, they might face the wrath of AI. Here he gives an example of an anthill standing in the way of roads built by humans, and how humans might inevitably get rid of the anthill if it comes in the way of human advancement.
“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…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.”
- Through this quote Mr. Musk tries to issue a warning about the quick advancement of technology and how it can cause massive destruction to humanity. He goes on to say that the risk of AI is a bigger threat than a nuclear war with North Korea.
“If you’re not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk(y) than North Korea”
- In this quote, the billionaire affirms the fact that AI needs to be regulated. If left unregulated, it will pose a threat bigger than a nuclear war. At the, 2018 South by Southwest tech conference, reminds everyone about the danger of artificial intelligence in the modern world.
“Mark my words, AI is far more dangerous than nukes…why do we have no regulatory oversight?”
- When someone who believes in free speech and often defies regulatroy bodies, talks about regulating AI, then it must be something worth noting. Just like in this quote, Elon Musk often suggests that we must regulate AI, as a preventive measure, before it is too late.
“AI is a rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation than be reactive.”
5). As you see in most of his quotes, Elon continuously talks about the dangers of artificial intelligence. In this quote, he openly says that he is not a fan of regulation and often believes in free speech, but when it comes AI, his belief is firm – regulate AI before it takes over humanity.
“I am not normally an advocate of regulation and oversight…I think one should generally err on the side of minimizing those things…but this is a case where you have a very serious danger to the public.”
- Elon, is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent people on earth. Even though he may come across as eccentric at times, it is important to note that his prediction about artificial intelligence taking over human lives may be true. Here he says that AI experts should not take this lightly and think that their creations may never surpass their intelligence. This belief may have dire consequences in the near future.
‘The biggest issue I see with so-called AI experts is that they think they know more than they do, and they think they are smarter than they actually are…This tends to plague smart people. They define themselves by their intelligence and they don’t like the idea that a machine could be way smarter than them, so they discount the idea — which is fundamentally flawed.”
- During his talk at the National Governors Association, Elon Musk said that machines can learn things faster than humans and he warns us about its extreme repercussions. He constantly fears about the development of technology and doesnt have a solution for it.
“Robots will be able to do everything better than us…I am not sure exactly what to do about this. This is really the problem to me.”
- As you can see, Elon is continuously warning us about the bitter-sweet progress of artificial intelligence.
“AI will be the best or worst thing ever for humanity.”
- Elon’s blunt words often leave people speechless. Like this quote, where he suggests that the governments migh forcefully take AI from companies that have worked hard at developing it, without giving it a second thought.
“[Governments] don’t need to follow normal laws. They will obtain AI developed by companies at gunpoint, if necessary.”
- Musk’s quirky comparisons always tend to surprise us. For example, here he suggests that when AI takes over humanity, the intelligence ratio between machines and humans would be equivalent to the intelligence ratio between a cat and a human.
“As AI gets probably much smarter than humans, the relative intelligence ratio is probably similar to that between a person and a cat, maybe bigger. I do think we need to be very careful about the advancement of AI.”
As you can see, Elon constantly gives warnings about the threats of AI and what measures we must take in order to prevent it. Considering that he has built companies like Neuralink, Tesla and SpaceX, that often depend on AI to build its products, the world should pay heed to these warnings!
