Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking ain't afraid of no black holes, but you know what he's afraid of? Artificial intelligence.
In his op-ed at The Independent, Hawking noted the release of the new Hollywood movie Transcendence starring Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman and opined that Artificial Intelligence or AI has huge potential. Hawking called "success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history" - but warned that it could also be humanity's last achivement:
One can imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand. Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all.
If Hawking is already terrified about the role of AI in the future of humanity over the Transcendence movie, let's hope he's never seen the Terminator franchise. Read the rest of Hawking's op-ed over at The Independent. (Photo: 20100/Wikimedia)