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Are you thinking Elon's concern is about what we have today? Duh. Today's AI methods are great at pattern recognition (weak AI). The real risk is obviously a

Are you thinking Elon's concern is about what we have today? Duh. Today's AI methods are great at pattern recognition (weak AI). The real risk is obviously a strong, generic AI. We don't know how to to get there, but we kinda do know that we will, so now is the time to think about risks. I really don't get why this is controversial or hard to understand. (My most cynical thought is that it's just about people doing weak AI feeling bothered and trying to kill the conversation out of short term strategical reasons because they know that many people are bound to mix up the concepts of weak and strong AIs, particularly since they are often selling their weak pattern matching AI systems as something quite a lot more.)

visarga 9y ago
To make an analogy, it's like starting the discussion on plane based terrorism and the need for TSA the next week after the Wright brothers had their first flight. If that happened, it would have stalled progress in aviation. Andrew Ng said he isn't worried about overpopulation on Mars, either. The real risk now is not AI taking over, it's humans using AI to abuse other humans. I trust the emerging AGI to do what's right more than humans. We can't even distribute enough food for all, and many of us get killed or abused at the hands of our leaders. We can be easily bullshited in elections, and as a result we managed to put Trump in charge. That's not very intelligent for a self declared intelligent species. We are our worst enemies, AGI will probably balance human society.
- edanm 9y ago
  Some terrorism might have indeed been prevented if some of the security measures had been put in place earlier. E.g. locked cabin doors. I could make a similar argument like yours, "that's like worrying about nuclear safety programs just because we started building nuclear weapons". Not that I'm saying it's worth it, mind you. It's a tradeoff between money/time/progress vs. safety. It's totally valid to decide that it isn't worth the tradeoff to stifle the industry right now. The main difference though between the potential dangers of AI, vs. terrorism, IMO, is that the potential danger is much much larger with AI (as it was with nuclear weapons).

visarga 9y ago

To make an analogy, it's like starting the discussion on plane based terrorism and the need for TSA the next week after the Wright brothers had their first flight. If that happened, it would have stalled progress in aviation. Andrew Ng said he isn't worried about overpopulation on Mars, either. The real risk now is not AI taking over, it's humans using AI to abuse other humans. I trust the emerging AGI to do what's right more than humans. We can't even distribute enough food for all, and many of us get killed or abused at the hands of our leaders. We can be easily bullshited in elections, and as a result we managed to put Trump in charge. That's not very intelligent for a self declared intelligent species. We are our worst enemies, AGI will probably balance human society.

edanm 9y ago
Some terrorism might have indeed been prevented if some of the security measures had been put in place earlier. E.g. locked cabin doors. I could make a similar argument like yours, "that's like worrying about nuclear safety programs just because we started building nuclear weapons". Not that I'm saying it's worth it, mind you. It's a tradeoff between money/time/progress vs. safety. It's totally valid to decide that it isn't worth the tradeoff to stifle the industry right now. The main difference though between the potential dangers of AI, vs. terrorism, IMO, is that the potential danger is much much larger with AI (as it was with nuclear weapons).