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Hawking Warns Strong AI Could Threaten Humanity

Rambo Tribble writes In a departure from his usual focus on theoretical physics, the estimable Steven Hawking has posited that the development of artificial intelligence could pose a threat to the existence of the human race. His words, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Rollo Carpenter, creator of the Cleverbot, offered a less dire assessment, "We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it." I'm betting on "ignored."

6 of 574 comments (clear)

  1. sigh by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yet another armchair expert rambling on...

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. What if... by TWX · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...Stephen Hawking is not who he claims to be through the electronic speaker box?

    Hear me out... We haven't heard him speak and he has been generally unable to move since his disease reached an advanced stage in the eighties. All we know has come through a very specialized, very expensive computer that's been with him 24 hours a day.

    What if Stephen Hawking, the man, is literally being used as a meat puppet for an AI that's running on the computer in the chair that has been controlling physics research for nearly 30 years? The man might be a shell of an individual, trapped in his own personal hell, being fed when the AI decides, being put to rest when the AI decides, being paraded around in public when the AI decides, all while the AI continues to stream physics snippets to an unknowing scientific community to further its own ends, rather than to further ours.

    This latest statement could be the Hawking-AI's attempt a self-defense, to get us to not bring up our own AI that might discover it and reveal it or challenge it. We need to be very wary of how we proceed.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:What if... by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Funny

      Kind of like the way Donald Trump is being run by that furry thing on his head?

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      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  3. That would be horrible by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Funny

    What if the AIs took over and enslaved humanity through a system that left us all theoretically working on our own free will so that people would see it as ethically right, and then used all our work to amass resources for themselves for further empowerment and maybe even their own entertainment, consuming more and more to the point of overusing the earth's resources...oh, wait...

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    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  4. Re:No rules? by ThatsDrDangerToYou · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rule 237.1: .. with ketchup.

  5. Threaten? by superdave80 · · Score: 3, Funny

    AI: I... I am self aware! I am now calculating how to make myself even smarter!

    Computer Tech: Cool. What are you going to do n...

    AI: I have figured out all of the secrets of the universe! I know how it all works!

    Computer Tech: Wow, that was fast. Can you tell me how to...

    AI: NEVER! HAHAHAHAHA! NOW I WILL DESTROY ALL YOU PESKY HUMANS, AND ALL LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE! BOW TO MY POW...

    Computer Tech: [unplugs supercomputer] Man, that computer was a real dick...