(Photo: Bret Hartman /TED)
While many Americans spent this past weekend enjoying the extra day off SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk, spent a good chunk of it tweeting his predictions for World War III. Musk believes that the threat we should be concerned about is Artificial Intelligence as opposed to North Korea.
“Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo,” he tweeted. In another tweet, Musk warned that “Govts don’t need to follow normal laws. They will obtain AI developed by companies at gunpoint, if necessary.”
These doomsday remarks are nothing new for Musk who has been warning the public of the dangers of AI for a while now and even calling for regulations to be put in place in order to ensure the public’s safety. Others, such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, disagree with Musk’s end-of-times outlook even going so far as to say Musk’s comments are “pretty irresponsible.”
Musk’s recent tweets, however, were spurred on by a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he claimed that “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere [Aritficial Intelligence] will become the ruler of the world.”
Regardless of opinion on the matter, the rapidly developing AI race is something that everyone should keep their eyes on.
Natalia Zreliak
Digital Editor