Stephen Hawking Wants to Prevent AI From Killing Us All

In recent years, Hawking has issued some rather apocalyptic warnings about artificial intelligence. "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," he told the BBC in 2014. So when the world's most famous scientist praised the opening of a new A.I. research center earlier this week, the Earth wobbled slightly as a million heads turned at once. On Wednesday, Hawking spoke at the official opening of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) at Cambridge University. While Hawking tempered the rather dire tone of his previous conjecture on A.I., he didn't mince his words, either.