Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has warned that the human race must prepare for the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and learn not to fear our future overlords.
Speaking at an impromptu Facebook Live session on Sunday, Zuckerberg accused people who raise fears over the rise of robots as being “pretty irresponsible.”
Dailycaller.com reports: “I think you can build things and the world gets better. With AI especially, I am really optimistic,” Zuckerberg said, according to Axios. “I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios — I just I don’t understand it. It’s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible … In the next five to 10 years, AI is going to deliver so many improvements in the quality of our lives.”
Zuckerberg cited how, as humans build and create more, the economy, and in turn human lives, gradually improve.
He shared his insight on AI during a seemingly impromptu Facebook Live session Sunday in which he grilled and smoked meats in his backyard.
While he did not name anyone in particular and is presumably referring to general concerns about the prospect of such capabilities, the tech wunderkind is likely alluding to specific comments recently made by fellow bigwig Elon Musk, and perhaps famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking.
Musk, who heads a nonprofit research firm called OpenAI, said earlier in July that government bureaucrats must craft regulations for AI before robots begin killing people in the streets. Musk has levied similar warnings in the past, but amplified his rhetoric by describing AI — the development of computer systems to perform tasks that typically require a human’s mental capacity — as the “biggest risk we face as a civilization.”
Musk’s grave concerns over AI earned him the honor of being labeled an “alarmist” and “Luddite” by a foundation that focuses on technological innovation — an ironic distinction given the industries within which Musk champions and operates.