Imagine the vilest, most vicious, cynical and cunning world leader. Now imagine that this person is not a person, but a network of millions of computers around the world. And this digital dictator has instant access to even the smallest documented information about every person who lives or has ever lived on Earth. And he can also perform millions of calculations in a split second, control the world economy, all computerized armed systems and, worst of all, has immortality in one form or another.
The emergence of such an incredible digital dictator, according to the founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk, is one of the darkest possible scenarios for the future of humanity, if the development of artificial intelligence continues without serious regulatory oversight.
“It is quite clear that we are rapidly moving towards the emergence of digital superintelligence that will surpass any person,” - Elon Musk noted in the new documentary Do You Trust This Computer? ("Do You Believe This Computer?") Directed by Chris Payne, who also directed the documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car?" ("Who killed the electric car?").
"If one company or a small group of people can create a god-like digital superintelligence, it will take over the world."
Human history contains many examples of individuals who tried to conquer the whole world at one time. Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler are just some of the names on this list. However, according to Musk, an authoritarian artificial intelligence will have one terrible advantage over all these people.
“Everyone, even the most evil and disgusting dictators, was united by one thing - they were mortals. However, for AI there will be no such thing as death at all. He will be able to exist forever. People will have nowhere to hide from such evil,”Musk said.
According to the same Musk, this hypothetical AI dictator will not even need to be truly evil in order to pose a danger to all of humanity.
“If AI has a certain task and it develops so that humanity will stand in the way of solving this task, then AI will simply destroy it, as a matter of course. Without any hesitation and moral torment. It's like building a road, on the way of which an anthill happened to be. We don't hate ants, we just build a road. So goodbye to the anthill,”Musk added.
Promotional video:
Nikolay Khizhnyak