With its DeepMind technology Google are hitting the AI scene pretty hard, and in a recent interview it’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, had some pretty interesting things to say about how seriously they are taking it.
“AI is one of the most important things that humanity is working on. It’s more profound than, I don’t know, electricity or fire,” said Pichai in an interview with MSNCB and Recode.
“Fire is pretty good,” said Recode’s Kara Swisher.
“But it kills people, too,” responded Pichai, adding “they learn to harness fire for the benefits of humanity, but we have to overcome its downsides, too,”.
“My point is AI is really important, but we have to be concerned about it… We want to be thoughtful about it,”
It’s comforting to hear the head of one of the biggest companies in the world of AI is taking the idea of artificial intelligence seriously. It’s potential is huge, but so is the risk, so to know it’s in the hands of someone who is at very least thinking about the possible downsides is a very good thing.