Prof Stephen Hawking, one of Britain's pre-
eminent scientists, told the BBC:"The development of full artificial
intelligence could spell the end of the human race."
His warning came in response to a question about a
revamp of the technology he uses to communicate,
which involves a basic form of AI.
But others are less gloomy about AI's prospects.
The theoretical physicist, who has the motor neurone
disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is using a
new system developed by Intel to speak.
Machine learning experts from the British company
Swiftkey were also involved in its creation. Their
technology, already employed as a smartphone
keyboard app, learns how the professor thinks and
suggests the words he might want to use next.
Prof Hawking says the primitive forms of artificial
intelligence developed so far have already proved
very useful, but he fears the consequences of
creating something that can match or surpass
humans.
Stanley Kubrick's film 2001 and its murderous
computer HAL encapsulate many people's fears of
how AI could pose a threat to human life
"It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at
an ever increasing rate," he said.
Cleverbot is software that is designed to chat like a
human would
"Humans, who are limited by slow biological
evolution, couldn't compete, and would be
superseded."
But others are less pessimistic.
"I believe we will remain in charge of the technology
for a decently long time and the potential of it to
solve many of the world problems will be realised,"
said Rollo Carpenter, creator of Cleverbot.
Cleverbot's software learns from its past
conversations, and has gained high scores in the
Turing test, fooling a high proportion of people into
believing they are talking to a human.
Rise of the robots
Mr Carpenter says we are a long way from having the
computing power or developing the algorithms
needed to achieve full artificial intelligence, but
believes it will come in the next few decades.
"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," he says.
But he is betting that AI is going to be a positive
force.
Prof Hawking is not alone in fearing for the future.
In the short term, there are concerns that clever
machines capable of undertaking tasks done by
humans until now will swiftly destroy millions of
jobs.
Elon Musk, chief executive of rocket-maker Space X,
also fears artificial intelligence
In the longer term, the technology entrepreneur Elon
Musk has warned that AI is "our biggest existential
threat".
Robotic voice
In his BBC interview, Prof Hawking also talks of the
benefits and dangers of the internet.
He quotes the director of GCHQ's warning about the
net becoming the command centre for terrorists:
"More must be done by the internet companies to
counter the threat, but the difficulty is to do this
without sacrificing freedom and privacy."
He has, however, been an enthusiastic early adopter
of all kinds of communication technologies and is
looking forward to being able to write much faster
with his new system.
Prof Hawking is using new software to speak, but
has opted to keep the same voice
But one aspect of his own tech - his computer
generated voice - has not changed in the latest
update.
Prof Hawking concedes that it's slightly robotic, but
insists he didn't want a more natural voice.
"It has become my trademark, and I wouldn't change
it for a more natural voice with a British accent," he
said.
"I'm told that children who need a computer voice,
want one like mine."
Source: www.bbc.com