Stephen Hawking is a theoretical physicist, author, professor and all around genius. But more than that he is one of the most popular scientific icons we have today. So his words carry a lot of weight not just in scientific circles but in day to day life also. When he says that artifficial intelligence may become a threat to our livelihood in the future, we can’t help but consider that our thirst for creation would very well be our undoing. Robots are fast becoming more than a part of our labor force but also are flooding our entertainment sphere as well. Stephen Hawking thinks that all this could spell the downfall of humanity.
During an interview with the BBC, Hawking shared his thoughts regarding the advancement of artificial intelligence. Due to the physicist’s Lou Gehrig disease he can’t use his vocal chords but instead relies on a new Intel developed system in order to speak. This system is also present in keyboard apps for our smartphones but Stephen Hawking’s version does a little more. It can actually learn from the professor’s use of words and suggest what to use next in a conversation. This technology has prompted Stephen Hawking to speak his mind stating that “the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” That is certainly something to fret about seeing as we are eventually going to enter an age where machines will do more than assemble cars. Stephen Hawking has made this point clear in the past when he wrote along with other top scientists in The Independent. Our future is not set in stone, though, as this is merely a warning. One excerpt from The Independent urges us to consider ways of avoiding this bleak future: “All of us should ask ourselves what we can do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks.”
Stephen Hawking’s cause for concern is a valid one but this is just one possible scenario. Rollo Carpenter, the creator of Cleverbot thinks that artificial intelligence will serve us to our betterment for a long time. All these arguments point out to a future where we’ll be surrounded by robots.But whether we’ll invent the next Skynet remains to be seen.