An expert has warned government officials about the dangers of experimenting with AI, saying that one day it could turn on us and wipe out humanity - just like we did to the dodo.

Michael Cohen, a doctoral student at Oxford University, spoke out about the "existential threat" posed by artificial intelligence, saying that things could be very bad for us if the tech develops too far.

They said it could, one day, "kill everyone", and there would be nothing we could do about it - so precautions need to be taken ahead of time.

Other researchers warned of military pressures to harness the technology could enhance it faster than the human race can control it, bringing the threat closer to the present day.

Michael said: "With superhuman AI there is a particular risk that is of a different sort of class, which is . . . it could kill everyone.

"If you imagine training a dog with treats: it will learn to pick actions that lead to it getting treats, but if the dog finds the treat cupboard, it can get the treats itself without doing what we wanted it to do.

"If you have something much smarter than us monomaniacally trying to get this positive feedback, and it's taken over the world to secure that, it would direct as much energy as it could to securing its hold on that, and that would leave us without any energy for ourselves."

Michael warned that the global "arms race" to produce weaponised AI has already begun and it could accelerate the emerging technology.

Some researchers believe AI will eventually require its own consciousness to operate, meaning it'd be able to think and feel in a similar way to humans.

These fears were communicated to MPs, but some worry it may already be too late.

Michael Osborne, professor of machine learning at Oxford University, said: "I think the bleak scenario is realistic because AI is attempting to bottle what makes humans special - that has led to humans completely changing the face of the Earth.

"If we're able to capture that in technology, then, of course, it's going to pose just as much risk to us as we have posed to other species: the dodo is one example.

"I think we're in a massive AI arms race, geopolitically with the US versus China, and among tech firms there seems to be this willingness to throw safety and caution out the window and race as fast as possible to the most advanced AI."

Source:
courtesy of MIRROR

by John Bett, Features Writer

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