Robots and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it will take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded." This sounds like it could be an excerpt from the screenplay to the 1984 film "The Terminator," but it's actually physicist Stephen Hawking in late 2014, talking to the BBC. As part of the scientific advisory board for the Future of Life Institute based in Boston, Hawking and engineer/entrepreneur Elon Musk helped to create an open letter on artificial intelligence that highlighted both the positive and negative aspects of AI.