Elon Musk & Stephen Hawking Want To Ban AI Weapons

It is no secret that Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking aren’t exactly huge proponents of AI. While Musk wants to avoid what he feels would be a Terminator-like outcome, Hawking on the other hand is a bit more pessimistic and believes that AI could potentially spell the doom of the human race.

In fact recently both Musk and Hawking, along with other AI and robotics experts, have called for a ban on what they are calling AI weapons, or basically offensive autonomous weapons. The group has published an open letter on Monday in which they argue that such weapons, just like most weapons, will eventually end up on the black market which could lead to disastrous events.

Part of the letter reads, “It will only be a matter of time until they appear on the black market and in the hands of terrorists, dictators, and other bad actors. There are many ways in which AI can make battlefields safer for humans, especially civilians, without creating new tools for killing people.”

Of course whether these are legitimate concerns that will be heeded or if they will be dismissed as paranoia remains to be seen, but Musk on his end has donated as much as $10 million in a bid to help keep AI “beneficial” towards humans. What do you guys think? Are AI weapons a valid concern we might have going into the future?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Robots
Tags: AI (Artificial Intelligence), elon musk, Social Hit, stephen hawking, weapons