Max Tegmark has repeatedly warned of the risks of artificial intelligence. This week, together with several other researchers, politicians and business leaders, he signed a statement from the Center for AI Safety in which they pointed out AI as an existential threat similar to pandemics and nuclear war.
In SVT's 30 minutes, Tegmark elaborates on what he means by AI could eradicate humanity.
He draws parallels to animal species that have recently become extinct and argues that this has happened because humans have been the most intelligent creature.
"What we are warning about now is that if we humans lose control of our society to machines that are much smarter than us, then things can go just as badly," he says in the program.
50 percent risk
We cannot know how this would happen, and according to Tegmark, it is because a less intelligent species cannot imagine what happens when a more intelligent species exterminates them.
"Exactly how it would happen is pure speculation, but that it will happen is very likely, I would say more than 50 percent risk," he says.
When Tegmark is asked how he can be sure that the risk is so high, he draws parallels to what it looked like in history when a new, smarter species appeared.
"Almost every time, things have gone pretty badly for those who used to be the smartest before," he says.
Is regulation needed
Politicians need to take the threat from AI seriously, he says, and calls for tougher regulation of companies, similar to what it looks like in the pharmaceutical industry.
For example, a pharmaceutical company may not start selling its medicine before it has undergone thorough checks by the Medical Products Agency.
"It is the companies' responsibility to prove that what they sell does not have great risks before they get a permit, today it is exactly the opposite, it is the Wild West.