Bill Gates is another smart guy who is terrified of artificial intelligence

While it might sound like a fantasy to have robots folding your laundry and driving you to work in the future, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said on Wednesday that he's afraid of artificial intelligence, and doesn't understand why more people aren't concerned about how it could impact the future.

Gates said during his third Reddit AMA ("Ask Me Anything") session that he agrees with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk — who has been vocal on the subject of artificial intelligence — and is worried about how this type of innovation could be used in the years ahead.

"I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence," Gates wrote. "First, the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though, the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern.

I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don't understand why some people are not concerned."

His sentiments come just two weeks after Musk and other brilliant thinkers like physicist Stephen Hawking signed an open letter calling for safety measures related to artificial intelligence innovation.

Ironically, Gates' comments were followed up with news that he is working on a project with Microsoft that includes artificial intelligence.

"One project I am working on with Microsoft is the Personal Agent, which will remember everything and help you go back and find things and help you pick what things to pay attention to," he said. "The idea that you have to find applications and pick them and they each are trying to tell you what is new is just not the efficient model — the agent will help solve this. It will work across all your devices."

Gates believes that we'll see big leaps in how robots will help us live our lives in the next few decades, too.

"There will be more progress in the next 30 years than ever," he said. "Mechanical robot tasks like picking fruit or moving a hospital patient will be solved. Once computers/robots get to a level of capability where seeing and moving is easy for them then they will be used very extensively."

He also snuck in a tidbit about how he would have been an artificial intelligence researcher if his career path turned out differently: "When I started Microsoft I was worried I would miss the chance to do basic work in that field."

Gates also revealed a few other details in his Q&A session, including that he can no longer jump over high chairs like he used to do in his younger days. He also, finally, received his Reddit Secret Santa present in the mail this morning, which included a jug of maple syrup, the book "The Promise of a Pencil" and a quilt with Reddit's alien mascot (a Snoo) on it.

Aside from artificial intelligence, Gates said he considers Bitcoin an exciting new technology, but isn't using it right now through his non-profit work.

"For our Foundation work, we are doing digital currency to help the poor get banking services," he said. "We don't use Bitcoin specifically for two reasons. One is that the poor shouldn't have a currency whose value goes up and down a lot compared to their local currency. Second is that if a mistake is made in who you pay then you need to be able to reverse it so anonymity wouldn't work.

"Overall, financial transactions will get cheaper using the work we do and Bitcoin related approaches. Making sure that it doesn't help terrorists is a challenge for all new technology."

Posted by : Gizmeon