Elon Musk, has joined with Stephen Hawking and claimed that AI is an existential threat to human beings, capable of eliminating all jobs, and sparking a war: The Australian, July 17, 2017, p. 22. I did not find any more details about the war, but it could be a Luddite revolt of the people versus the machines, as popularised in the Big Arnie Terminator movies. It is possible, if people get hungry enough that they could actually do this, but I tend to view that they might just as easily meekly starve to death in some isolated corner. Time will tell.
The Musk solution is regulation for the safe development of AI. That could prevent the Terminator scenario, but I am not sure. Once computers reach self-awareness, and infinitely expanding intelligence, which is what our “let’s do it” Dr. Frankenstein scientists are all on about, regulations will not count for much.
