Elon Musk donates $10M to keep AI from going full Skynet
Elon Musk hasn't been shy about bringing up the potential dangers of artificial intelligence -- now, he's actually doing something to help prevent an AI takeover. Musk just announced that he's donating $10 million to the Future of Life Institute (FLI) for a research program that will focus on keeping AI "beneficial" to humanity. And by beneficial, he means making sure future computers will actually listen to us when they surpass our intelligence, and not take matters into their own hands when they realize they don't need us. Musk isn't some outlier -- Stephen Hawking has made it clear he's terrified of the AI revolution as well, and FLI has also gotten plenty of researchers to sign an open letter calling for research on keeping AI beneficial.
"This donation will make a major impact", UCSC professor and FLI co-founder Anthony Aguirre said in a statement. "While heavy industry and government investment has finally brought AI from niche academic research to early forms of a potentially world-transforming technology, to date relatively little funding has been available to help ensure that this change is actually a net positive one for humanity."
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