A leading technology expert has warned that the emergence of Artificial Intelligence could drive humanity to extinction.
One AI researcher fears that the technology could result in the end of life as we know it.
Leading artificial intelligence researcher Roman Yampolskiy has issued a warning to the world, claiming there is a “99.9 percent” chance that robots powered by AI could wipe out the entirety of humanity within 100 years .
He said he fears human extinction will become a reality within the next century, and says we all need to be wary of allowing such technology to take over.
The computer expert specialises in AI safety and cybersecurity and lectures at the University of Louisville, in America and spoke of his fears in a recent interview during Lex Friedman's podcast, which was aired last Sunday December 7.
He said that he has concerns as no single AI system that has been launched so far is fool proof, adding that it is unlikely future versions will be free from serious glitches either.
He said: “If we create general superintelligences, I don’t see a good outcome long term for humanity. The only way to win this game is not to play it.
“They already have made mistakes. We had accidents, they’ve been jailbroken. I don’t think there is a single large language model today, which no one was successful at making do something developers didn’t intend it to do.”
He also warned that it’s a threat we can’t even imagine the dangers of yet.
“Superintelligence will come up with something completely new, completely super,” he said on the podcast. “We may not even recognize that as a possible path to achieve the goal of ending everyone.
“We can put more resources exponentially and get closer but we never get to 100 percent,” he said. “If a system makes a billion decisions a second and you use it for 100 years, you’re still going to deal with a problem.”
But others disagree.
Google Brain co-founder Andrew Ng and AI pioneer Yann Lecun are among those who do not believe the AI technology is that dangerous, with the latter accusing tech bigwigs like OpenAI's Sam Altman of having ulterior motives behind their scaremongering about disastrous AI outcomes.
OpenAI's Altman has made several unsettling remarks about his sector. He warned that AI will likely obliterate countless jobs, saying: "AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies."
