Don’t believe that artificial intelligence will one day rise up against the humans who brought it into being and become robot overlords reigning over Earth like cruel, undying gods? Well, Elon Musk does, and he’s willing to put $10 million where his mouth is in order to safeguard humans from the inevitable robot revolution.
Tweeting the announcement yesterday, Musk says the money will be going to The Future of Life Institute, a non-profit founded by scientists that says it’s “working to mitigate existential risks facing humanity.”
“Here are all these leading AI researchers saying that AI safety is important”, Musk says in the press release. “I agree with them, so I’m today committing $10M to support research aimed at keeping AI beneficial for humanity.”
Read: “I’m trying to save all your asses from extinction, after those smart refrigerators turn on you.”
FLI will be in charge of administering the program’s open grants competition. Anyone with a good idea can apply through an application portal that is slated to be open Jan. 22.
“Anybody can send in a grant proposal, and the best ideas will win regardless of whether they come from academia, industry or elsewhere”, FLI co-founder Viktoriya Krakovna explains in the announcement, but the plan is to award the majority of the grant funds to AI researchers,.
The rest of Musk’s money will go toward AI-related research in other fields such as economics, law, ethics and policy.
Here’s Musk talking about robots:
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist