Artificial intelligence and nanotechnology have been named alongside
nuclear war, ecological catastrophe and super-volcano eruptions as
“risks that threaten human civilization”. Future machines and software with “human-level intelligence” could
create new, dangerous challenges for humanity – although they could also
help to combat many of the other risks cited in the report.
“The primitive forms of artificial intelligence we already have, have
proved very useful. But the development of full artificial
intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
