The grim spectre of humans being wiped out by artificial intelligence is being used to urge for stronger guardrails on the growing tech industry.
In a detailed, equation-laden lecture on the economics of extinction, Assistant Productivity Minister Andrew Leigh will declare rogue AI or an engineered pandemic are the most likely ways the human species could end over the coming 100 years.
"Extinction means the complete loss of our species. No survivors, no recovery, no second act," Dr Leigh will tell the Tasmanian Economic Society on Thursday.
"One estimate, from Australian philosopher Toby Ord, puts the odds of such a catastrophe at one-in-six over the coming century."
Policymakers could consider limits on what AI is allowed to do and how it approaches problems in a bid to reduce the risk, Dr Leigh will say.
