Ex-Google boss fears AI could be used by terrorists
The former chief executive of Google is worried artificial intelligence could be used by terrorists or "rogue states" to "harm innocent people
The real fears that I have are not the ones that most people talk about AI - I talk about extreme risk."The tech billionaire, who held senior posts at Google from 2001 to 2017, told the Today programme "North Korea, or Iran, or even Russia" could adopt and misuse the technology to create biological weapons
He called for government oversight on private tech companies which are developing AI models, but warned over-regulation could stifle Reuters Eric Schmidt wearing a dark jacket and pinstriped shirt, gesticulating with his hand as he speaks.ReutersEric Schmidt held senior posts at Google and its parent The former chief executive of Google is worried artificial intelligence could be used by terrorists or "rogue states" to "harm innocent people."The real fears that I have are not the ones that most people talk about AI - I talk about extreme risk."
The tech billionaire, who held senior posts at Google from 2001 to 2017, told the Today programme "North Korea, or Iran, or even Russia" could adopt and misuse the technology to create biological weapons.He called for government oversight on private tech companies which are developing AI models, but warned over-regulation could stifle innovation.Mr Schmidt agreed with US export controls on powerful microchips which power the most advanced AI systems.Before he left office, former US President Joe Biden restricted the export of microchips to all but 18 countries, in order to slow adversaries' progress on AI research.
The decision could still be reversed by Donald Trump.Think about North Korea, or Iran, or even Russia, who have some evil goal," Mr Schmidt said."This technology is fast enough for them to adopt that they could misuse it and do real harm," he told Today presenter Amol Rajan.He added AI systems, in the wrong hands, could be used to develop weapons to create "a bad biological attack from some evil person.""I'm always worried about the 'Osama Bin Laden' scenario, where you have some truly evil person who takes over some aspect of our modern life and uses it to harm innocent people," he said. He also said the large tech companies "did not understand 15 years ago" the potential that AI had, but does now."My experience with the tech leaders is that they do have an understanding of the impact they're having, but they might make a different values judgment than the government would make," he said
