Experts are evaluating where it is possible that AI will surpass human intelligence within the year.
This comes after Elon Musk made an eerie prediction about the future of artificial intelligence, claiming that it will be ‘necessary’ for the tech to evolve.
The billionaire appeared on an episode of the Dwarkesh Podcast where he prophesied that we could be set to soon approach the ‘end’ of AI unless there are solutions to its power problems.
Musk explained: “My prediction is that by far the cheapest place to put AI will be space in 36 months or less, maybe 30 months.”
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He added: “Mark my words.”
Musk went on to say: “All of the United States currently uses only about half a terawatt of power on average. Imagine trying to build enough power plants to double that. People don't realize how hard that actually is," Musk explained on the podcast.
“Solar cells are already very cheap, around 25 to 30 cents a watt in China. Put them in space and it's effectively 10 times cheaper because you don't need batteries.”
But how far away are we from AI exceeding human intelligence? Experts believe it could be a long time yet.
Geoffrey Hinton, who is considered the Godfather of AI as one of its pioneers, has suggested that achieving AGI could be up to 20 years away.
Meanwhile, other experts have given estimates of 2040 and 2050 as timelines to expect this level of tech advancement.
So, why might it take longer than expected? This might not be down to the lack of technology but rather the government red tape blocking the advancements.
International AI safety reports which were compiled by Yoshua Bengio and other experts suggest that while rapid advances are possible, governance lag and risks are serious concerns.
But that doesn’t seem to be putting a stop to the growth of the AI industry, as Musk has announced merging interests between his firms xAI and SpaceX.
It is hoped by the billionaire that SpaceX’s space infrastructure will be used to power AI and in turn the AI will be used to make SpaceX smarter and more autonomous.
Musk also announced that his space company will be shifting its focus away from colonizing Mars and move towards creating a base on the Moon.
Although, this doesn’t mean that the world’s richest man is taking his eyes off the Red Planet altogether but instead will be working on both efforts simultaneously.