Elon Musk: AI Needs To Be Regulated

There have already been movies about artificial intelligence (AI) and what it could possibly do in terms of harming us.

Robots taking over the world or programming themselves to take all of people’s jobs. The amount of ways in which AI could be applied is virtually limitless and has made advances at a rapid pace over the past few years.

Effectively, artificial intelligence has moved its way into nearly every part of the average consumer’s lives. From recommendations on Netflix to targeted advertising and cars, AI is embedded in many aspects of multiple industries.

This weekend, one of the biggest proponents of the technology voiced his concerns about its current state and where it’s heading in the future. During a meeting at the National Governors Association, Tesla’s Elon Musk shared his thoughts on this topic.

“I have access to the very most cutting edge AI, and I think people should be really concerned about it. AI is a rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation instead of reactive. Because I think by the time we are reactive in AI regulation, it’s too late. AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization in a way that car accidents, airplane crashes, faulty drugs or bad food were not,” said Musk.

While Tesla’s Elon Musk went on to add that AI has the potential to start a war via providing fake news or spoofing email accounts, the discussions around regulation starting now rather than later are likely a decent caveat to moving that ball forward. If Musk is warning the industry about the potential dangers of AI, there may be a chance that he has some insight into something with which the public is not fully in tune.