Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called artificial intelligence “vastly more risky than North Korea” Friday amid escalating tensions between Washington D.C. and Pyongyang.
Musk shared a photo on Twitter of a poster with the words “In the end the machines will win” while calling for more concern over the burgeoning technology.
If you’re not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea. pic.twitter.com/2z0tiid0lc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2017
“If you’re not concerned about AI safety, you should be,” he wrote. “Vastly more risk than North Korea.”
The tech magnate’s comments followed news that OpenAI, a nonprofit research company backed by Musk, used artificial intelligence to defeat the world’s best “Dota 2” players at a video game competition in Seattle.
OpenAI first ever to defeat world’s best players in competitive eSports. Vastly more complex than traditional board games like chess & Go.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2017
“OpenAI first ever to defeat world’s best players in competitive eSports,” Musk said. “Vastly more complex than traditional board games like chess.”
Last month while speaking in Providence, Rhode Island, at the US National Governors Association summer meeting, Musk argued that preemptive action needed to be taken by governments to stop the technology from running out of control.
“Normally the way regulations are set up is when a bunch of bad things happen, there’s a public outcry, and after many years a regulatory agency is set up to regulate that industry,” Musk said. “It takes forever. That, in the past, has been bad but not something which represented a fundamental risk to the existence of civilization.”
Days later Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg accused Musk of creating up “doomsday scenarios” regarding the future of artificial intelligence during a Facebook Live broadcast.
“I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios — I just, I don’t understand it,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible.”
“In the next five to 10 years, AI is going to deliver so many improvements in the quality of our lives.”
That same day Musk shot back at Zuckerberg, calling the Facebook co-founder’s understanding of artificial intelligence “limited.”
I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2017
“I’ve talked to Mark about this,” Musk said. “His understanding of the subject is limited.”
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