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Elon Musk: Governments will obtain AI technology 'at gunpoint' if necessary

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Elon Musk, Co-founder and CEO of Tesla
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In his most recent tirade on the existential threat posed by artificial intelligence, billionaire tech titan Elon Musk says governments will use force to get companies to turn over their advanced AI technology.

During the course of his Twitter rant, in which Musk claims the global race for artificial intelligence will result in World War III, a follower suggests that the government lags behind and corporations will develop the most threatening arsenal of artificial intelligence.

"[Governments] don't need to follow normal laws," he says. "They will obtain AI developed by companies at gunpoint, if necessary," Musk responds.

Musk is consistent in his terrifying reminders that the rapid and accelerating development of AI is the greatest threat to civilization. Artificial intelligence is more dangerous than North Korea, he's said, even as the country has been testing its military technology.

Since launching a nuclear missile would be "suicide" for the North Korean regime, it should be "low on our list of concerns for civilizational [sic] existential risk," Musk has argued.

On Monday, tech billionaire Mark Cuban weighed in on Musk's most recent warning, agreeing that weapons with AI ought to be feared.

"Autonomous weaponry is the ultimate threat to humanity," says Cuban.

The same day, the chief digital evangelist for Salesforce, Vala Afshar, sent the World Economic Forum's June 2017 analysis of when robots will take over human jobs to Cuban on Twitter. The "Shark Tank" star says his fear is not that robots will become capable of replacing human laborers but that they will not be human enough.

"I'm concerned about machines NOT taking on human like qualities," he explains.

Called out for his depressing focus on Armageddon, Musk promises more optimistic updates to come.

If robots take your job, the government might have to pay you to live
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If robots take your job, the government might have to pay you to live

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