Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says AI poses an 'existential risk'
Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says AI poses an 'existential risk'
Believes it is the biggest threat to humanity
The former chief executive of Google has warned that AI has the potential to harm or kill “many many people” in the near future.
At the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council conference in London, Eric Schmidt said he was concerned about the “existential risk” of the rapidly evolving technology.
“My concern with AI is actually existential, and existential risk is defined as many, many, many, many people harmed or killed. And there are scenarios not today but reasonably soon, where these systems will be able to find zero day exploits, cyber issues or discover new kinds of biology,” Schmidt said.
“This is fiction today but the reasoning is likely to be true. And when that happens we want to be ready to know how to make sure these things are not misused by evil people.”
Schmidt, who was CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, did not have a clear view on how AI should be regulated, but said that it's a 'broader question for society.' However, he said there is unlikely to be an AI-specific regulator in the US.
Speaking at the same conference a day earlier, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said there is a risk that "advanced AI either eliminates or constrains humanity’s growth.”
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