Science & Technology
His chilling prophecy was made on Wednesday at the launch of The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI), which has been created to monitor the implications of rapidly developing AI. "I believe there is no deep difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer," Hawking said. "It therefore follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence - and exceed it."
Hawking warned AI "could develop a will of its own - a will that is in conflict with ours. The rise of powerful AI will be either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity."
Last week, Parliament's Science & Technology Committee warned the government is not prepared for the arrival of robots, which will "fundamentally" change people's lives. AI such as driverless cars and supercomputers that can help doctors with medical diagnoses will soon be the norm, the committee said. MPs warned the government does not have a strategy in place for developing new skills to help workers succeed in a world with greater reliance on AI.
Earlier this month scientist's at Google's DeepMind division announced they have developed an AI computer program that uses basic reasoning to learn complex systems, such as the London Underground. The advancement could mark a major breakthrough in the development of AI, as the "differentiable neural computer" (DNC) can solve problems without any prior knowledge.
Reader Comments
Reminds me of a person who cannot swim but relies heavily on plastic water wings for floatation. What could possibly go wrong?
How do you get a soul into a robot? There are actually some soulless people out there. They didn't want to come and now they make perfect soldiers and police.
In the first place artificial intelligence is a dubious concept to begin with. One would think that if it were physically possible there would be examples of intelligence to be found in minerals and crystals, the building blocks of our ideas of where AI is to supposedly to emerge from, and yet to my knowledge there are none, but we think that we humans can create something where nature itself hasn't? When we don't even understand how humans age, how to end diseases like aids, or cure our own kind from a plethora of other ailments? Doesn't seem very logical to me.
AI is a joke and anyone who's signed up for AI as a reality is missing what is going down. AI is a scam, it's another criminally designed white collar crime used to defraud the people involved, to extract money from the treasury under the guise of science. Gullibility is the end result of the Prussian Educational System, and here is another perfect example of how effective it is in producing mind controlled gullible people who cannot connect the dots.
The only threat AI would really become is to the ancient power paradigm. With AI a private individual could make robots that would work for free, they could make private security or perhaps their own army, they could begin to ignore or reject the existing criminal banking and insurance system.
I don't know why Hawking's is blathering on about this because I don't think AI is remotely possible, but maybe I'm wrong because I also think Hawking's is a shill for the PTB. If he is, then that would suggest that some form of AI might actually be looming on the Horizon.
Is immortality a curse or the holy grail?
These 'robots' have the potential to become, self-maintaining, immortal beings capable of wireless communication.