On 6 April 2018, journalist Brandon Spektor published a very interesting article on the imminent threat of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and how it could lead, in the words of famous tycoon Elon Musk, to a “digital dictatorship”.

“Imagine your least-favorite world leader. (Take as much time as you need.). Now, imagine if that person wasn't a human, but a network of millions of computers around the world”, the journalist wrote. “This digi-dictator has instant access to every scrap of recorded information about every person who's ever lived. It can make millions of calculations in a fraction of a second, controls the world's economy and weapons systems with godlike autonomy and — scariest of all — can never, ever die”, he added.

In the opinion of Mr Musk, humans have crossed the border of superintelligence, and have created machines with a reasoning ability far beyond human understanding. “We are rapidly headed toward digital superintelligence that far exceeds any human, I think it's pretty obvious”, the founder of SpaceX stated. “If one company or a small group of people manages to develop godlike digital super-intelligence, they could take over the world”, he continued.

“At least when there's an evil dictator, that human is going to die. But for an AI [Artificial Intelligence] there would be no death; it would live forever, and then you'd have an immortal dictator, from which we could never escape”, Mr Musk commented. “If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it. No hard feelings. It's just like, if we're building a road, and an anthill happens to be in the way. We don't hate ants, we're just building a road. So, goodbye, anthill”, he expressed.

Elon Musk, along with famous scientists like the late physicist Stephen Hawking have repeatedly warned about the dangers of uncontrolled Artificial Intelligente. In 2015, both urged the United Nations to regulate the use of killer robots in war. “Public risks require public oversight”, Mr Musk once said.

Draw your own conclusions…

For more information: https://www.livescience.com/62239-elon-musk-immortal-artificial-intelligence-dictator.html