Two tech billionaires are engaging in a public debate about the risks of artificial intelligence, or A.I.
Two tech billionaires are engaging in a public debate about the risks of artificial intelligence, or A.I., reports CNBC.
It started when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on Facebook Live this Sunday and answered questions from users including one about A.I. and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s warnings about it.
According to CNN, Zuckerberg responded by saying, “With AI especially, I'm really optimistic.”
He added, “I think that people who are naysayers and kind of try to drum up these doomsday scenarios -- I just, I don't understand it. I think it's really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible.”
Less than two days later, Musk responded to someone’s tweet about those comments, saying, “I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”
Musk then stated that there would be a “Movie on the subject coming soon…”
As the two entrepreneurs indicated, they have contrasting views about A.I. Zuckerberg contends that it can be a helpful tool in society, telling his Facebook Live audience, “If you're arguing against AI, then you're arguing against safer cars that aren't going to have accidents. And you're arguing against being able to better diagnose people when they're sick. I just don't see how, in good conscience, some people can do that. I'm just much more optimistic on this, in general, than probably a lot of folks are.”
Part of his perspective comes from the 100 hours he reportedly spent helping to develop a virtual assistant named Jarvis who can respond to different commands, notes the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Musk has been expressing dire, tech-related thoughts for years; in 2014, he said, “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful.”
While Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and renowned physicist Stephen Hawking have also warned of the threat A.I. could pose to humans, other tech leaders like Google’s Larry Page have suggested that advanced machines could help mankind and should be allowed to do so.