“Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence. It’s mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output,” the South African-born businessman outlined to the leaders from 139 nations as Musk spoke during day two of the Summit. He also spoke of his fear of “deep AI”, artificial intelligence that’s “smarter than the smartest human on earth”, labeling it a “dangerous” situation. Computers can communicate at ‘a trillion bits per second’, while humans, whose main communication method is typing with their fingers via a mobile device, can do about 10 bits per second,” explained Musk. “In an age when AI threatens to become widespread, humans would be useless, so there’s a need to merge with machines,” added Musk. “Some high-bandwidth interface to the brain will be something that helps achieve a symbiosis between human and machine intelligence and maybe solves the control problem and the usefulness problem,” Musk continued. In the past too, Musk has voiced his concerns over the dangers of AI and recently Stephen Hawking, he and many other scientists created a set of 23 principles to ensure that AI is developed in an ethical way. According to Musk, AI threatens to displace jobs in the short term —particularly those belonging to delivery drivers, cabbies, and chauffeurs, among other professions that require a human to operate heavy machinery. He said: “The most near term impact from a technology standpoint is autonomous cars … That is going to happen much faster than people realise and it’s going to be a great convenience. “But there are many people whose jobs are to drive. “In fact I think it might be the single largest employer of people … Driving in various forms. “So we need to figure out new roles for what do those people do, but it will be very disruptive and very quick,” he added.
