Artificial intelligence is coming for us all; this is a prediction or a warning as you like to term it is up to you. He has been on this narrative for years.
“I’ve been banging this AI drum for a decade,” Musk told Insider last year. He’s even gone as far as saying that AI is more dangerous than nuclear war. In 2017, he said that the efforts to make AI safe only have “a five to 10 percent chance of success.”
Musk has been propagating the arrival of robots in a positive light off late and has been downplaying the danger associated with robots which are very real.
“The robots are coming anyway, as Boston Dynamics videos clearly show,” Musk tweeted today in response to a Twitter user pointing out Musk’s double standard.
Atlas robots, the humanoids conceived by Boston Dynamics, recently revealed its marquee humanoid carrying out impressive parkour stunts. The video clearly had an immediate and massive impact on Robot’s enthusiasts, including a very famous one, Elon Musk, who could not resist but respond with a short and crisp “impressive” to the video.
“I will not be able to ensure that robots made by other companies are safe, but I can try my best to do so at Tesla,” Musk said in today’s tweet.
Tesla’s seriousness about the robot’s project is yet to be seen as the company has still not shown the kind of seriousness required. This we say with authority because we saw a human dancing around in a robot’s costume during the company’s AI event. Another theory behind Tesla’s pursuit of robotics is that it was all theatrics, done to get people’s attention off the turbulent path they are treading in connection with their company’s trouble with regulators over its Full Self-Driving capabilities.
On the other hand, the venture might be very real. The question is that till what time does the Tesla Bot remain a nice friendly bot, or it would turn into the evil bot we have all been warned about for quite some time now.
Our suspicion around the Tesla Bot is supported by their own mission statement, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Well, at this point, all we can do is hold our breath and see as it unfolds!