Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking warn of artificial intelligence arms race

Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have joined prominent artificial intelligence researchers in pledging support for principles to protect mankind from machines and a potential AI arms race. An open letter published by the Future of Life Institute (FLI) on Monday outlined the Asilomar AI Principles--23 guidelines to ensure the development of artificial intelligence that is beneficial to humanity. For decades, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's'Three Laws of Robotics' were a cornerstone for the ethical development of robots and artificial intelligence machines. First laid out in his 1942 short story Runaround, Asimov's three principles stated: A robot must not harm a human through action or inaction; a robot must obey humans; and a robot must protect its own existence. Each rule takes precedence over the rules that follow it in order to ensure a human's life is protected over the existence of a robot.