How To Stop Worrying And Love The Great AI War Of 2018

Inspired by news that Vladimir Putin had told Russian students the country that leads in artificial intelligence will rule the world, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO declared the global race to dominate AI might turn into real war--and that the first strike could well be launched by an algorithm rather than a flesh-and-blood leader. Chastised by one of his followers for the gloomy prognostication, he apologized and then confessed, "I was depressing myself too. Musk is a techno-provocateur with few equals. However, plenty of people share his take on AI. Even sunnier forecasts about the future of AI, detailing how self-driving cars might radically reduce highway carnage, are typically too long-range to offer much of a sense of comfort.