Google CEO Sundar Pinchair, seen here at a Vietnamese IT conference, says AI has the potential to make an unparalleled impact on the world. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Pinchai: AI Either Greatest or Most Dangerous Invention of All Time

When it comes to inventions or discoveries, there really is no definite GOAT. Unless you ask the CEO of Google. He believes that AI is going to have the most influence on humanity going forward. Is he right?

Gizmodo.com has an article about an interview with the BBC, in which Sindar Pinchai said:

“The progress in artificial intelligence, we are still in very early stages, but I viewed it as the most profound technology that humanity will ever develop and work on, and we have to make sure we do it in a way that we can harness it to society’s benefit,” Pichai said.

According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the artificial intelligence revolution is poised to be more “profound” than the invention of electricity, the internet, and even fire.

“But I expect it to play a foundational role pretty much across every aspect of our lives. You know, be it health care, be it education, be it how we manufacture things and how we consume information. And so I view it as a very profound enabling technology. You know, if you think about fire or electricity or the internet, it’s like that, but I think even more profound,” Pichai continued.

The article written by Matt Novak goes on to criticize Pichai because he never defined what AI is. And we all recall the old saying that if someone says they know what AI is, they don’t.

“Whether you agree with Pichai or not, it’s obvious that he’s right about one thing: Whatever happens with AI needs to be for society’s benefit. But again, Pichai never defines what he’s talking about. Would the invention of the atomic bomb be viewed as something for society’s benefit? The people who worked on the Manhattan Project may have been ethically conflicted about it, but they rationalized their work by recognizing what would happen if the Nazis built nuclear weapons first.”

Maybe it’s just built-in human DNA but there always seems to be another side to every invention, the good and the bad. Elon Musk says, “With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.” But hey we all have questions about AI and the future it will build. The future that it is currently building. People like Pinchai are helping to shape its direction.

read more at gizmodo.com