Musk's influence on Trump could lead to tougher AI standards, says scientist

Elon Musk's influence on a Donald Trump administration could lead to tougher safety standards for artificial intelligence, according to a leading scientist who has worked closely with the world's richest person on addressing AI's dangers. Max Tegmark said Musk's support for a failed AI bill in California underlined the billionaire's continued concern over an issue that did not feature prominently in Trump's campaign. However, Musk has warned regularly that unrestrained development of AI – broadly, computer systems performing tasks that typically require human intelligence – could be catastrophic for humanity. Last year, he was one of more than 30,000 signatories to a letter calling for a pause in work on powerful AI technology. Speaking to the Guardian at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Tegmark said Musk, who is expected to be heavily influential in the president-elect's administration, could persuade Trump to introduce standards that prevent the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI), the term for AI systems that match or exceed human levels of intelligence.