In the future, artificial intelligence may be used to murder people, a former Google CEO has warned.
A group of senior executives heard Eric Schmidt, who led the search engine giant for two decades, say that he thinks AI poses a “existential risk” to humanity, which he defines as “many, many, many, many people harmed or killed.”
The software Ph.D. said the technology, which Google is helping spearhead through its relatively primitive Bard chatbot system - could be ‘misused by evil people’ when it becomes more advanced.
Schmidt is the most recent person to make similar assertions; he recently served as chair of the US National Security Commission on AI.
Before The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in London, Schmidt said, “There are scenarios where these systems will be able to find zero-day exploits in cyber issues, or discover new kinds of biology.”
The term “zero-day exploits” refers to newly discovered security holes in code that can affect any type of infrastructure, including personal computers, online banking, and digital wallets. Zero-days are the prized tools in hackers’ arsenal.
Schmidt did not elaborate on what “new kinds of biology” created by a maliciously programmed AI most concern him.
‘Now, this is fiction today,’ Schmidt cautioned, ‘but its reasoning is likely to be true. And when that happens, we want to be ready to know how to make sure these things are not misused by evil people.’
