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From smartphone apps like Siri to feature of speech like facial recognition of photos , artificial news ( AI ) is becoming a part of quotidian animation . But humanity should take more guardianship in developing AI than with other technologies , experts say .
Science and tech heavyweightsElon Musk , Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have monish that sound automobile could be one ofhumanity ’s biggest existential threats . But throughout account , human inventions , such as fire , have also pose dangers . Why should people regale AI any other than ?
" With flame , it was fine that we be intimate up a bunch of time , " Max Tegmark , a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , allege April 10 on the radio show Science Friday . But in developingartificial intelligence activity , as with nuclear artillery , " we really want to get it right the first time , because it might be the only probability we have , " he say . [ 5 Reasons to Fear automaton ]
On the one hand , AI has the potential to reach enormous good in society , expert say . " This technology could save thousands of lives , " whether bypreventing car accidentsor avoiding errors in practice of medicine , Eric Horvitz , managing conductor of Microsoft Research lab in Seattle , said on the show . The downside is the possibility of creating a computer program open of continually improving itself that " we might turn a loss mastery of , " he tot .
For a long time , company has believed that things that are smarter must be better , Stuart Russell , a calculator scientist at the University of California , Berkeley , said on the show . But just like the Grecian myth of King Midas , who transmute everything he tinge into Au , ever - smarter auto may not move around out to be what society wished for . In fact , the goal of make machine smarter may not be adjust with the goal of the human subspecies , Russell said .
For instance , atomic office gave us access to the almost unlimited energy stored in an molecule , but " regrettably , the first affair we did was create an atom bomb , " Russell said . Today , " 99 pct of fusion research is containment , " he said , and " AI is going to go the same room . "
Tegmark called the development of AI " a race between the acquire power of technology and humanity ’s arise wisdom " in handling that technology . Rather than prove to slow down the former , humanity should invest more in the latter , he said .
At a league in Puerto Rico in January organized by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute ( which Tegmark co - founded ) , AI leaders from academia and diligence ( including Elon Musk ) agreed that it ’s time to redefine the goal of earn machines as smart and as fast as possible . The goal should now be to make machine beneficial for society . Musk donated $ 10 million to the institute to further that goal .
After the January conference , hundreds of scientists , including Musk , sign an subject letterdescribing the potential welfare of AI , yet warned of its pitfalls .
