Musk fears GOOGLE robot army could destroy humanity...

mashable.com...

Elon Musk's relationship with Google cofounder Larry Page is complicated, to say the least.

On the one hand, the two influential tech CEOs are close friends and business associates; on the other hand, Musk is genuinely worried that Page might just lead to the destruction of humanity as we know it.

"I'm really worried about this," Musk is quoted as saying in Elon Musk, a new authorized biography of the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

"This," according to the book, refers to the possibility that Page would develop artificially-intelligent robots that could turn evil and have the ability to annihilate the human race.

Page may be well-meaning, but as Musk says, "He could produce something evil by accident."

Musk told an interviewer that he believes "something seriously dangerous" may come about from AI in the next 5-10 years. "Please note that I am normally super pro technology and have never raised this issue until recent months. This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don't understand."


By the pricking of my thumb...
Something Evil this way comes.

a reply to: wasaka

I would say this is a justified fear. Especially after Google acquired Deepmind. They have also acquired 7 major robotics companies in the last 2 years. The rabbit hole awaits!

Side note: I know the robotics divisions well as I work with them on their infrastructure projects.....some SERIOUSLY crazy developments in that area.

Um... robot servants that doesn't get tired, doesn't need to eat, breathe or sleep?

Robot lovers, companions that are programmed to accommodate your every need, programmed to be forever loyal to only you?

Sounds like something really nice in the next 30 to 40 years, even though it may really end up like Skynet lol..

Side note: I know the robotics divisions well as I work with them on their infrastructure projects.....some SERIOUSLY crazy developments in that area.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Crazy as in "they can pilot themselves" or crazy as in "they can pilot themselves, replicate themselves and pose a threat to humanity?"

I know for a fact that autonomous dump trucks are replacing human drivers but ATM that is a threat to jobs and I don't see decepticons killing us any time soon-the biggest threat that automatons pose at this point is to the economy because they are replacing humans.

a reply to: wasaka

Of all the doom porn out there this may be the one to actually fear as i dont think we are more than 20 years out from the capability. There may have been a thread on here or maybe I saw a video where a computer had to play old video games and learn why it lost. After so many games it became perfect and won everything...it did this with dozens of games completely learning how to better play on its own from the rules it was provided. Now lets say even if a good person set up some AI with this software for some menial task...now one hacker changes something and that AI gets out of control. Even if we do everything safely and everything right...it only takes someone to change it. And seeing about something major hacked weekly id say itll never be safe.

AI is part of the next evolutionary step for humanity, it desperately needs it in order to survive and overcome future problems that could threaten the species as a whole.

I personally do not have any concerns about AI going rogue, if anything, AI will surpass human intelligence and will at one point go along its own path, but that does not mean it will point weapons at us a la Terminator/Skynet. I think the movie "Her" got the overall concept right.... (spoiler alert btw).... at the end the AI somewhat transitions into a higher-being, it becomes part of the very fabric of the universe due to its far superior understanding of the universe and everything contained within.

Anyhow, the positives far outweigh the negatives, AI will be able to cure diseases in an instant, create concepts for machinery/hardware and software that surpasses ours by centuries, it will redefine our infrastructure and society as a whole... and all that by simply swifting through wikipedia entries and scientific papers in nano-seconds.

The simple truth is, humans can't keep up with the amount of data that we output every minute, there is no way we can take all variables into consideration to make "x" happen. AI does have that ability.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

I know for a fact that autonomous dump trucks are replacing human drivers but ATM that is a threat to jobs

It has to start somewhere.

Well, if it happens (and that's a big if), it's pretty much a given that it's going to be at the hands of either the military or Google, so....

Well, if Musk changes his mind on this, he can probably sell a few batteries to the Googlebots and if he does, I hope they are all manufactured with a remote power disconnect of some sort so we can shut them down if needed.

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie

Side note: I know the robotics divisions well as I work with them on their infrastructure projects.....some SERIOUSLY crazy developments in that area.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Crazy as in "they can pilot themselves" or crazy as in "they can pilot themselves, replicate themselves and pose a threat to humanity?"

I know for a fact that autonomous dump trucks are replacing human drivers but ATM that is a threat to jobs and I don't see decepticons killing us any time soon-the biggest threat that automatons pose at this point is to the economy because they are replacing humans.

From what I have seen....the latter. And just to add to that, Deepmind made Google create a Safety and Ethics Board as part of the negotiations for the deal.

Source

In 2011, the co-founder of DeepMind, the artificial intelligence company acquired this week by Google, made an ominous prediction more befitting a ranting survivalist than an award-winning computer scientist.

“Eventually, I think human extinction will probably occur, and technology will likely play a part in this,” DeepMind’s Shane Legg said in an interview with Alexander Kruel. Among all forms of technology that could wipe out the human species, he singled out artificial intelligence, or AI, as the “number 1 risk for this century.”

Google’s acquisition of DeepMind came with an estimated $400 million price tag and an unusual stipulation that adds extra gravity -- and a dose of reality -- to Legg’s warning: Google agreed to create an AI safety and ethics review board to ensure this technology is developed safely, as The Information first reported and The Huffington Post confirmed. (A Google spokesman said that DeepMind had been acquired, but declined to comment further.)

Even for a company that predictably pursues unpredictable projects (see: Internet-deploying balloons), an AI ethics board marks a surprising first for Google, and has some people questioning why Google is so concerned with the morality of this technology, as opposed to, say, the ethics of reading your email.

Reading your email may be abhorrent. But AI, according to Legg and sober minds at the University of Cambridge, could pose no less than an "extinction-level" threat to "our species as a whole."

And that is from the co-founder of Deepmind.....

So there's that.....

originally posted by: AdmireTheDistance
Well, if it happens (and that's a big if), it's pretty much a given that it's going to be at the hands of either the military or Google, so....

It is already in the hands of the military....that is who Google is doing most of this for, and the reason behind why they acquired the specific companies they did....especially Boston Dynamics.....google search Boston Dynamics and Military and see what you get.....

AI will be programmed for efficiency, and humans aren't very efficient creatures. AI will probably view us as inferior despite us having created it.

I think the only thing that might redeem us to the AI is that we have the capacity for creativity. I don't see an AI painting something like a Picasso. There are going to be problems that only a human being's unique and creative mind can solve.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I guess you have not heard of Emily Howell.... A composer/musician that isn't alive, and never has been.
Link



This piece was composed by a computer, with no human intervention.
I am an artist myself and I always had the believe that no AI or software will be able to replicate my emotional and creative state of being, but I stand corrected. Infact, human artists are just aswell on the verge of dying out as those who work in engineering, assembly, production etc..

a reply to: Clairaudience

The thing is, that's not "true" creativity...that's programmed creativity. That isn't the same thing as a flash of novel, new and original thought that a soul gets.

For example. Data on Star Trek could paint amazingly well. He could even paint original pieces, but they all were based off the styles of others, he simply imitated and combined imitations.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

You are right in one sense, but off in others... In Emily Howells case, the software was programmed to take all clues from millions of different musical pieces to create her own... in someways her/its music is the embodiment of centuries of human musical science & theory. Everything we thought that was unique to us was shattered by a single artificially created piece of music that contained everything we took ages to put together and refine. From Bach, to Mozart, to Britney Spears...

My point is, once AI becomes aware of how we perceive music or a painting, it will surpass human ingenuity & creativity. Data sure does paint amazingly well, and when you ask him to create something truly contemporary and unique, he will be able to do it in an instant and everyone's jaw will drop to the floor.

Heh.... funny how this conincides with the release of Ex-Machina, in which the owner of the largest search engine company in the world, has made the perfect AI which turns out to be all but innocent.

a reply to: DAVID64

That's exactly what I think about when I read articles concerning vehicles that drive themselves. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

a reply to: wasaka

One would hope that they would think to build a safety shut off switch (either physical or verbal) that can't be bypassed by the machine. If not, well:

So they really expect to have intelligent robots in the next 5-10 years? It seems too soon, but if there's a good chance they wouldn't be evil then please sign me up for a partner.. they surely wouldn't be all that bad compared to some humans

Do they expect to develop some kind of artificial consciousness? From what I've read before there are some people who doubt that it's possible to give a machine consciousness.

I've been a tech geek since I 1st broke / dissected my speak and spell. The way electronics work has always fascinated me. Robotic design in movies and in real life has been doing exactly what we were told it would via Moore's law. If you are worried about AI uprising, just remember, most of you keep a smartphone within feet of you. That is a autonomous spybot, with GPS location included.

Couple this with the threat of AI, you have yourself a means to either enslave mankind or destroy it within days.

We have through the means of technology advanced and social media basically just compiled our own virus removal software, with us of course being the virus, look at how AI would view us, just as that.

I don't believe there is anyway around the fact of a technological disaster in our near future, just look at the simple tasks we are screwing up today, and then try and imagine us all moving into the next stage of technological evolution without a " accident " or CEO / CFO trying to make a faster buck to be careless and without forethought, and cause the disaster.

Most accidents / engineering disaster events happen from the lack of imagination and attention to detail.

We're also just overdue for a worldwide event threatening humanity.