“the robots have problems.” Most notably, he said, robotic cleaning systems tend to leave dirt in the corners of the glass walls that are designed to provide panoramic views from high floors.
"I am not alone in thinking we should be worried. The leading AI companies have taken great steps to ensure safety. They recognize the danger, but believe that they can shape and control the digital superintelligences and prevent bad ones from escaping into the Internet. That remains to be seen..."
So who’s going to protect us from the real-life rise of the machines? Step forward a little-known body called the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER). CSER is based at the University of Cambridge, and is a multidisciplinary group of individuals – mainly scientists – whose mission, as defined on their website, is “the study and mitigation of risks that could lead to human extinction”.CSER was set up with funding from Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, which arguably makes him the real-life John Connor, making a lone stand against the real-life Skynets.
"Hopefully this grant program will help shift our focus from building things just because we can, toward building things because they are good for us in the long term", says FLI co-founder Meia Chita-Tegmark.
“I think that this technology will ultimately be one of the greatest forces for good in mankind’s history simply because it makes people smarter,” Schmidt said during a keynote address with author Walter Isaacson and Megan Smith, U.S. chief technology officer.
“I’m certainly not worried in the next 10 to 20 years about that. We’re still in the baby step of understanding things,” Schmidt said. “We’ve made tremendous progress in respect to [artificial intelligence].”
An Air Force press release notes that the first opportunity for SpaceX to compete to provide launch services will probably be in June, for the GPS III satellite launch.
“This is a very important milestone for the Air Force and the Department of Defense," said the Secretary of the Air Force, Deborah Lee James, who added:
SpaceX’s emergence as a viable commercial launch provider gives the opportunity to compete for launch services for the first time in almost a decade.
Ultimately, leveraging of the commercial space market drives down cost to the American taxpayer and improves our military’s resiliency.
SpaceX will now be able to compete against the former monopoly holder, United Launch Alliance (ULA), a coalition between US aerospace-defence behemoths Lockheed and Boeing.
Tesla Motors Inc., SolarCity Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support, according to data compiled by The Times. The figure underscores a common theme running through his emerging empire: a public-private financing model underpinning long-shot start-ups.
What big business is eyeing up as the next big commercial opportunity: namely, autonomous robot technology that can operate in a human environment.
Or to put it another way: Terminator. Although we’re repeatedly told that the robots are not Terminator; that they’re not going to kill us; or make us their slaves; that there is nothing to fear.
You’ve likely seen Fernandez’s work before: He’s responsible for designing costumes in Batman v Superman, Oblivion, Tron: Legacy, The Avengers, Iron Man, Jupiter Ascending, and quite a few others. He knows his way around the sorts of costumes that are functional, but which also look cool.
Elon Musk has previously noted design is going to be a priority for their own astronauts, and that he wants it to look ‘badass’: "Our spacesuit design is finally coming together and will also be unveiled later this year. We are putting a lot of effort into design esthetics, not just utility. It needs to both look like a 21st century spacesuit and work well."
A Hollywood costume and prop designer responsible for the iconic Iron Man suit and Captain America superhero outfits has been commissioned by Elon Musk to create a spacesuit for SpaceX astronauts.