Dear Commons Community,

Elon Musk, co-founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, Inc., over the weekend at a meeting of the nation’s governors called upon them to be proactive in regulating the artificial intelligence industry. He warned that “the hyper-competitiveness of the tech industry could push developers to work on A.I. before their competitors. And if that happens without any kind of oversight, Musk says it could pose “the greatest risk we face as a civilization.”  Here is a recap of his comments courtesy of newsy:  

“… he encouraged U.S. governors to get out in front of the [A.I.] industry and do some proactive regulating.

Musk met with state governors at the National Governors Association to talk about different kinds of emerging technology. In addition to A.I., Musk talked about solar energy, space travel and self-driving cars.

“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,” Musk said.

But his feelings towards A.I. aren’t anything new.

“I mean, with artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon,” Musk said at a 2014 event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Musk warned that the hyper-competitiveness of the tech industry could push developers to work on A.I. before their competitors. And if that happens without any kind of oversight, Musk says it could pose “the greatest risk we face as a civilization.”

Back in 2015, Musk helped fund OpenAI, a nonprofit tasked with researching “digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity.”

And Musk isn’t the only prominent techno-wiz to warn us about A.I. Stephen Hawking has said he believes artificial intelligence could “spell the end of the human race.”

A critical aspect of Musk’s comments is that the nature of the tech industry is such that there will be unbridled investment in getting the upper hand on the competition and there will be no holding back what they will try to accomplish.  He is right to warn all of us of this danger to our civilization. 

Tony