Elon Musk Builds Artificial Intelligence Research Center With Other Investors; Is Skynet Real?
Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of Tesla Motors Inc., along with other investors has announced that they will be committing themselves into funding an artificial intelligence research center, according to sources.
It was announced this Friday that a group of technology companies and well-known Silicon Valley investors would establish a San Francisco-based non-profit artificial intelligence research center, known as OpenAI, focusing on the development if "digital intelligence" that should benefit the humanity, as reported by the NY Times.
These several technology giants have grouped up with one another and committed themselves to invest $1 billion to do research on an increasingly important technology used in facial recognition, online advertising, and self-driving cars, as stated by Fortune.
"Everyone who is listed as a contributor has made a substantial commitment and this should be viewed as at least a billion-dollar project," Elon Musk said, courtesy of NY Times.
The research and development of artificial intelligence in recent years has moved from being a dead-end and vague backwoods of computer science to one of the leading technologies of the time, according to Bloomberg.
The availability of large data sets, faster computers, and corporate financial backings have developed the technology to a point where it assists Facebook to understand pictures, powers the web search engine of Google, allows IBM to defeat expert humans at the game show "Jeopardy!", and enables Tesla's vehicles to be driven automatically and autonomously along main thoroughfares, as reported by the source.
As such, several leaders of the scientific community voiced their concerns recently this year about the development of artificial intelligence, as stated by the Observer.
"Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history," wrote Hawking in an op-ed, courtesy of the source.
"Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks. In the near term, world militaries are considering autonomous-weapon systems that can choose and eliminate targets," the professor added.
It is a threat already depicted in popular culture. One example would be the acclaimed film series, "Terminator", where a fictional super computer, known as Skynet, became self-aware and attempted to destroy the human race, as stated by IB Times.
The idea of Skynet is becoming more real than its fans might think as the technology of artificial intelligence is being used by the military, evolving faster, getting faster, starting to look more like humans, and having an elite opposition formed, as reported by Huffington Post.
"We discussed what is the best thing we can do to ensure the future is good," Elon Musk said, courtesy of NY Times.
"We could sit on the sidelines or we can encourage regulatory oversight, or we could participate with the right structure with people who care deeply about developing AI in a way that is safe and is beneficial to humanity," he added.
