Elon Musk says computers will eventually surpass us in every single way

By Emily Price August 29, 2019

During an interview on Wednesday, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that computers are getting smarter, so much so that they could quickly surpass human intelligence.

On stage at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Musk told Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, that he guarantees that humans will eventually be surpassed by computers “in every single way,” CNBC reports.

“The first thing we should assume is we are very dumb,” Musk said. “We can definitely make things smarter than ourselves.”

Musk pointed to computer programs that allow computers to beat chess champions as well as technology from Neuralink, his own brain interface company that may eventually be able to help people boost their cognitive abilities in some spheres, as examples.

In contrast, Ma thinks somewhat the opposite, noting that machines have never spawned life, and while computers can beat games, the fact that they can win is to some extent of little consequence: who wants to play a game that they know they’re going to lose?

Ma argued that the games are meant for two humans to play together, and while he might want to watch two computers battle it out, he wouldn’t want to play against one.

Last year during a talk at South by Southwest in Austin, Musk talked about the dangers of artificial intelligence.

“Mark my words,” Musk warned. “A.I. is far more dangerous than nukes. So why do we have no regulatory oversight?”

Despite his concerns about the technology, it’s also been a big focus for him. In 2015 Musk along with several other tech titans donated $1 billion to the non-profit A.I. research group OpenAI. OpenAI’s goal is to “advance digital intelligence” with the goal of benefiting humanity as a whole with its advancements.

Last month, Musk unveiled a few additional details about Neuralink. At the time, he said that one of the main goals of the company is to understand and treat brain disorders, as well as to “preserve and enhance your own brain.”

The company is reportedly already working on a system for people who are suffering from paralysis that will allow actions to be performed by just thinking about them.

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Emily is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. Her book "Productivity Hacks: 500+ Easy Ways to Accomplish More at…

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