Former Google CEO warns of the 'real harm' AI could cause that no one is talking about
One former Google CEO has expressed his own fears surrounding the power of AI, as he's claimed that it can be used by terrorist groups and 'evil' countries to cause harm to 'real harm' to innocent people.
Eric Schmidt has proposed a contrasting opinion to many of those in the tech world by not jumping on the AI bandwagon, despite it being the driving force of investment and innovation in the space.
Having been in various management roles at Google between 2001 and 2017, Schmidt left the company to found the Special Competitive Studies Project - a think tank and private foundation with a focus on technology and security, and currently sits in 48th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $35,700,000,000.
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Speaking to Radio 4's Today program, Schmidt outlined that while the AI revolution "is the most important revolution since electricity," he still holds major concerns surrounding the dangerous potential of such powerful technology, as reported by the Guardian.
"The real fears that I have are not the ones that most people talk about AI - I talk about extreme risk," Schmidt outlined in the interview.
"Think about North Korea, or Iran, or even Russia, who have some evil goal. This technology is fast enough for them to adopt that they could misuse it and do real harm.
"I'm always worried about the Osama bin Laden scenario, where you have some truly evil person who takes over some aspect of our modern life and uses it to harm innocent people."
We are likely only seeing the beginning of what artificial intelligence is capable of, and it's difficult to understand what the 'evil' people that Schmidt is referencing would be able to do with such tech.
Schmidt's former company Google just recently removed language that claimed the company wouldn't pursue AI applications that "cause or are likely to cause overall harm" through weapons and surveillance tech, so it's not hard to imagine how this could extend to dangerous attacks on innocent lives.
He has also called for stronger government intervention in the development of AI to ensure that ethical considerations are upheld, arguing:
"It's really important that the governments understand what we're doing and keep their eye on us. My experience with the tech leaders is that they do have an understanding of the impact they're having, but they might make a different values judgement than the government would make."
This isn't the first time that a key figure in the tech and artificial intelligence world has spoken out against its dangers, as the 'godfather of AI' himself, Geoffrey Hinton, has argued that it provides a 'fertile ground for fascism' in how it cultivates such a significant wealth gap.