Google's former chief executive has warned that artificial intelligence could be used by rogue states such as North Korea, Iran and Russia to "harm innocent people". Eric Schmidt, who held senior posts at Google from 2001 to 2017, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that those countries and terrorists could adopt and misuse the technology to develop weapons to create "a bad biological attack from some evil person". The tech billionaire said: "The real fears that I have are not the ones that most people talk about AI – I talk about extreme risk. "Think about North Korea, or Iran, or even Russia, who have some evil goal. This technology is fast enough for them to adopt that they could misuse it and do real harm."

A former Google CEO has warned that artificial intelligence be used to kill people in the future. Eric Schmidt - who spent two decades at the helm of the search giant, told a gathering of senior executives Wednesday that he believes AI presents an'existential risk' for humanity'defined as many, many, many, many people harmed or killed.' The software PhD said the technology, which Google is helping spearhead through its relatively primitive Bard chatbot system - could be'misused by evil people' when it becomes more advanced. Schmidt, who recently chaired the US National Security Commission on AI, is the latest in a slew of former Google staffers to come out publicly against the rapid development of the technology in recent weeks. Schmidt told a CEO summit in London that'misused' AI could lead to'many, many, many, many people harmed or killed.'

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has slammed the US government for its slow 5G rollout, arguing that the government's "dithering" has left America "well behind" China. Dr Schmidt penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal alongside Harvard government professor Graham Allison, saying that the US is "far behind in almost every dimension of 5G while other nations – including China – race ahead". The authors said the Biden administration must make 5G a "national priority". If not, "China will own the 5G future", they said. "The step up to real 5G speeds will lead to analogous breakthroughs in autonomous vehicles, virtual-reality applications like the metaverse, and other areas that have yet to be invented," Dr Schmidt and Dr Allison wrote.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government funding in artificial intelligence has fallen short and the country needs to invest in research, train an AI-ready workforce and apply the technology to national security missions, a government-commissioned panel led by Google's former CEO said in an interim report on Monday. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), created by Congress last year, raised concerns about the progress China has made in this area. It also said the U.S. government still faces enormous work before it can transition AI from "a promising technological novelty into a mature technology integrated into core national security missions." The commission thinks an allied effort on AI in the realm of national security is important, Robert Work, vice chairman of the NSCAI and a former deputy secretary of defense, told reporters. The NSCAI has spoken with Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union, Work said. China is investing more than the United States in AI, said the report, which referred to the Asian nation more than 50 times.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government funding in artificial intelligence has fallen short and the country needs to invest in research, train an AI-ready workforce and apply the technology to national security missions, a government-commissioned panel led by Google's former CEO said in an interim report on Monday. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), created by Congress last year, raised concerns about the progress China has made in this area. It also said the U.S. government still faces enormous work before it can transition AI from "a promising technological novelty into a mature technology integrated into core national security missions." The commission thinks an allied effort on AI in the realm of national security is important, Robert Work, vice chairman of the NSCAI and a former deputy secretary of defense, told reporters. The NSCAI has spoken with Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union, Work said. China is investing more than the United States in AI, said the report, which referred to the Asian nation more than 50 times.