Hawking’s hint to mankind: AI may end human race

Eminent astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who died on Tuesday, had warned that the efforts to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and create thinking machines could spell the end of the human race.

Hawking, known for his work on black holes and relativity, was regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein. He was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease since he was 20. Despite being told that he had just two more years to live in 1963, Hawking continued to make path breaking contributions to science till the age of 76.

In the last few years, Hawking repeatedly warned about the threat of climate change, artificial intelligence, population burden and hostile aliens. “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” the cosmologist told BBC News in 2014.

In an interview last year with the WIRED magazine, Hawking said AI will eventually reach a level where it will essentially be a “new form of life that will outperform humans”. I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that improves and replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that outperforms humans,” he told the magazine.

The renowned physicist maintained that while the primitive forms of AI had proven very useful, he feared the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans. “It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate,” he had said.

Hawking also warned that due to climate change, Earth will become a sizzling fireball by 2600 and humanity will become extinct. He declared that humans must “boldly go where no one has gone before” if we fancy continuing our species for another million years.