Today I would like to speak
about the origin and destiny
of intelligence in our
universe. The second law
of thermodynamics says
that a total amount of
disorder or entropy
always increases
over time.
However, there is a
loophole allowing
a small system to decrease
its disorder as long
as it increases the disorder
of its surroundings by an
even greater amount.
Our initially barren universe
has evolved remarkably
complex entities doing
just this as well as
reproducing. We call
these entities 'life'.
Information is at the heart
of life.
DNA passes the blueprints of
life between generations.
At some point during
our 13.8
billion years of cosmic
history, something beautiful
happened.
This information processing
got so intelligent that
life forms became conscious
I've given you a brief history
of intelligence. What's
next?
Some think that humanity
today is the pinnacle of
evolution, and that this
is as good as it gets
I disagree.
Up to now, computers
have obeyed Moore's law
which says that computers
double their speed and memory
capacity every
two years.
The result is that computers
are likely to overtake
humans in intelligence
at some point in the next
100 years.
Recent landmarks, such
as self-driving cars
a computer winning at
Jeopardy, and the digital
personal assistants Siri
Google Now and Cortana
are merely symptoms of
an IT arms race.
Everything that civilisation
has to offer is a
product of human intelligence
We cannot predict what
we might achieve when
this intelligence is
amplified by the tools AI
may provide,
but the eradication of war
disease and poverty
would be high on anyone's
list.
In short, the advent of super
intelligent AI would
be either the best or the worst
thing ever to happen to humanity
so we should plan ahead
Little serious research
has been devoted to these issues
outside of a few small
non-profit institutes
Fortunately, this is now
changing.
Technology pioneers
Elon Musk, Bill Gates
and Steve Wozniak have echoed
my concerns, and a
healthy culture of risk
assessment and awareness of societal
implications is
begin to take root in
the AI community.
Many of the world's leading
AI researchers recently
signed an open letter
calling for the goal of
AI to be redefined
from simply creating
raw undirected intelligence
to creating intelligence
directed at benefiting humanity
The Future of Life Institute
where I serve on the scientific
advisory board, has
just launched a global
research programme aimed
at keeping AI beneficial
When we invented fire, we
messed up repeatedly
then invented a fire extinguisher
With more powerful technology
such as nuclear weapons
synthetic biology
and strong artificial
intelligence, we
should instead plan ahead
and aim to get things right
the first time, because
it may be the only chance
we will get.
I am an optimist and don't
believe in boundaries
neither for what we can do
in our personal lives, nor
for what life and intelligence
can accomplish in our
universe. This means that
the brief history of intelligence
that I have told you about
is not the end of the story
but just the beginning
of what I hope will be
billions of years of life
flourishing in the cosmos
Our future is a race between
the growing power of our technology
and the wisdom with which we
use it. Let's make sure
that wisdom wins.
Thank you for listening.