Elon Musk supposes Artificial Intelligence may lead to Third World War

Responding to President Vladimir Putin's recent comments on artificial intelligence, Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Monday that World War III would likely be triggered by competition for AI.

The business magnate’s prediction came in response to Putin’s comments at a meeting with schoolchildren in Yaroslavl on September 1, in which the Russian president said it was important to prevent monopolies in the field, adding that if Russia became the global leader in artificial intelligence, “it will share its technology with the rest of the world, like we are doing now with atomic and nuclear technology.” 

China, Russia, soon all countries with strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo,” Elon Musk wrote in a Twitter comment after sharing an article carrying Putin’s comments. 

Hashing out his thoughts in public, Musk clarified that he was not just concerned about the prospect of a world leader starting the war, "but one of the AI's, if it decides that a prepemptive strike is most probable path to victory," he wrote.

Musk has been warning of the dangers of unfettered AI for years. Last month, he joined over 100 AI experts in calling on the United Nations to ban robotic weapons. 

Musk believes so much in the threat of AI that he has a side project, Neuralink, which aims to create a computer-brain interface in order to help keep humans more competitive in the face of emerging AI.