Artificial intelligence as a technology in itself does not pose a threat, the danger lies in how a person will use the created technologies, says Wendell Wallach, professor at the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University in the USA.
“The point is not that the artificial intelligence that we will create in the next 20 years is something scary. Sometimes the person himself and how he will use the created technologies is frightening,”Wallach said in an interview with RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the forum on artificial intelligence, organized by the Taihe think tank.
He noted that technology can become dangerous if someone wants to use it to manipulate people's behavior and feelings.
“Think what would happen if we had sensors that know when you feel fear or vulnerability… I find it intimidating to use artificial intelligence for surveillance purposes. In addition, what will happen if artificial intelligence controls the deadly weapon. It's very scary, but we don't have to do all this,”Wallach said.
However, he is skeptical about how quickly scientists can create something similar to the human brain, ethical issues can also become an obstacle to this.
“I think that we are still very far from creating something like the human brain, very far. What does it mean? Twenty years, fifty years, a hundred years, I don't know. Some of my colleagues have believed that for twenty years, I have not. I suppose we will stumble more than we think. I am a little more skeptical than most because I thought a lot about ethical issues and I realized that things are very difficult,”Wallach said.
Nonetheless, Wallach believes that in the future technology will be more beneficial than fraught with threats, the difficulty lies in minimizing the unwanted consequences for society.