Two of the world’s richest dudes are publicly bickering about whether or not artificial intelligence will soon take over humanity.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been open about his fears that AI poses to the future. Though he’s not overly concerned about a Matrix-style computer takeover, he does think there is a real danger in the unchecked power of computers that can think for themselves. In an interview last year for the film Lo and Behold, he discussed one possible doomsday scenario: “If you were a hedge fund or private equity fund and you said, ‘Well, all I want my AI to do is maximize the value of my portfolio,’ then the AI could decide, well, the best way to do that is to short consumer stocks, go long defense stocks, and start a war.”
This month he even said that the economy could be in danger because of machines taking over the job market, adding they “will be able to do everything better than us.”
Mark Zuckerberg however, took issue with the thoughts. During a livestream, when asked about the comments, he called such ideas “pretty irresponsible.”
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I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios—I just, I don’t understand it. 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.
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It didn’t take long for Musk to respond. He tweeted, “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”
I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2017
He then followed up with “Movie on the subject coming soon …” Of course, we’ve all seen the Terminator. We know how this ends. Let’s just hope Zuck’s right on this one.