Dear Professor Hawking:
I am writing you after I read in BBC news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30290540) that you think that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could “spell the end of human race”. I admire your work, you are a brilliant theoretical physicist that have brought light to black holes and other mysteries of the universe, and I admire you because you explain it in your books so even children (I was 14 when I read your “Universe in a nutshell”) can understand that. So I won’t judge your ideas as a theoretical physicist, but let me (I just have a Masters degree in Computer Science with a Major on Artificial Intelligence) share with you my ideas.
Why are you so afraid of real AI? It seems that you fear the consequences of “creating something that can surpass humans”. Well, Professor, we’ve been doing that all our history. Since Archimedes (or whoever it was) invented the pulley, humans were surpassed in strength by a rope and a wheel. Since Gutenberg invented the printing press, humans were surpassed in speed of writing. Since the car was invented, humans have been able to travel faster (and doctors predicted by that time that humans would die if they moved faster than 20 mph). Since the internet was invented, humans have been surpassed in information sharing and storage.
Professor, all this inventions made our lives better. They made our lives easier. You can actually communicate, go from one place to another and develop your theories just because those inventions I talked about are working for you, right now.
AI will be just another tool for humans that make our live better. I understand you are scared, because for the first time an invention will develop exponentially in the moment it can improve itself. But, isn’t that great? Imagine something that can solve our environmental problems. Something that can show us how to feed all the mankind without killing the Earth. Something that can create new materials that will allow us to travel faster. Something that can find a cure for our worst illnesses. Something that will work for us, giving us time to spend with the people we love, and really enjoy our lives.
It is true. It is scary thinking about not working. But that’s the future anyway, and it won’t mean we will live worse. We will have time to evolve mankind to the next step, which is far beyond what we can imagine now. It is scary that a machine will be able to solve mathematical problems you’ve been trying to solve for decades and it will show you what is there inside a black hole, which is what you’ve been pursuing for so long.
No Professor… the machines won’t kill us, because AI does not have feelings. It has no anger. It is not selfish. It will just improve itself and our lives.
So please, stop scaring people with apocalyptic tales based on Hollywood films. Focus on your maths, and let us, computer scientists, improve mankind through tools, as we’ve been doing since we could light a fire.
MSc Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence)