Hawking: Creating AI Could Be the Biggest Event in the History of Our Civilization

Speaking at the launch of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) in Cambridge, science icon Stephen Hawking warned listeners about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and humanity. "Success in creating AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization," Hawking acknowledged, noting the unprecedented and rapid development of AI technology in recent years, from self-driving cars to a computer playing (and defeating humans) in a game of Go. "But it could also be the last," he warned. Hawking himself acknowledges the value of AI and what it could contribute to humanity's future, saying he believes artificial intelligence and this century's technological revolution will parallel the previous century's industrial one. "The potential benefits of creating intelligence are huge. We cannot predict what we might achieve, when our own minds are amplified by AI," said Hawking.