Google Ethics Adviser: Controlling Future AI is "Wishful Thinking"

"AI is the single most disruptive force that humanity has ever encountered."

Incoming Disruption

As Google's new advisory council for artificial intelligence development prepares to convene for the first time, one member has a dire warning.

"AI is the single most disruptive force that humanity has ever encountered and my concern is that so much of the discussion that we hear about now is very incremental," Hong Kong computer scientist De Kai told the South China Morning Post. "We are near an era when people can easily produce weapons such as fleets of armed AI drones… the cat is out of the bag."

First Time

Kai disagrees with the common argument that advanced AI is the fourth industrial revolution. He believes that AI stands to be far more disruptive — and dangerous — than any past technological development.

"There are people who wish they could control [technology] the same way we control an element like uranium. That is wishful thinking," De Kai told theSCMP. "This is why our priority is to alter human culture. We need to grow up as a species."

Ethical Board

Google's AI advisory board is off to a rough start, with resignations and internal employee protests over some of the company's nominations.

While De Kai's warning is sure to rattle some AI advocates, it at least shows that he's taking the task seriously.

READ MORE: People need to wake up to dangers of AI, warns Google ethics adviser [South China Morning Post]

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