Henry Kissinger warns about Artificial Intelligence

Washington: – Business icons like Elon Musk, Jack Ma as well as some researchers and eminent personalities had already expressed concerns about the unprecedented pace and unregulated progress of Artificial Intelligence. Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State and senior Statesman, has now also joined the list. Kissinger has pointed out the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence before the human society. Kissinger’s article on the subject was published in the ‘Atlantic’ magazine.

Henry Kissinger

‘A complicated game like chess was mastered by the Artificial Intelligence program in just a few hours. Where the human brain took 1500 years, the AlphaZero program which was based on Artificial Intelligence technology attained the same expertise within a few hours. One can only imagine the progress that AI can make in the next five years,’ said Kissinger while raising some fundamental issues about the progress of this sector. Kissinger also came up with some examples to substantiate this.

‘Driverless Cars’ have become a reality and these cars will soon become commonplace in the next decade. These cars will operate just like an expert driver. But will AI be able to handle the unexpected and sudden eventualities that are encountered while driving, asked Kissinger. He further asked, “What would happen if such a car were obliged by circumstance to choose between killing a grandparent and killing a child? Whom would it choose?” He added that, therefore those working in the AI sector should carefully design their policy objectives. Otherwise, this unregulated progress can lead to several grave issues.

Artificial Intelligence could even make the wrong decisions at a rapid speed. There may not be much time to rectify these mistakes. It just cannot be compared to the speed of human intelligence. In such a situation, the use of this technology has to be disciplined with human sensibilities, added Kissinger. By saying this, Kissinger has appealed to the United States government to appoint a presidential committee for use and regulation of AI. If we don’t initiate these steps right now, we might regret it later, he further warned.

Before Kissinger, Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and Jack Ma of Alibaba Group had claimed that Artificial Intelligence will cause havoc in the future. Jack Ma had warned that this technology will lead to rise in unemployment and be a cause for the Third World War. Russian President Vladimir Putin had also claimed that the country leading in AI will rule the world. It was earlier reported that China has been making huge investments in the field of AI. 116 entrepreneurs and researchers had expressed their concerns through an open letter to the United Nations saying that the use of this technology for military purposes can cause immeasurable damage. They had demanded a ban on the arms and ammunition developed using Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

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