Elon Musk Issues Warning about 'Humanoid Robots' in AI 'Age of Abundance'

Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
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Elon Musk Issues Warning about 'Humanoid Robots' in AI 'Age of Abundance'

Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP

The owner of X Elon Musk on Thursday predicted the future with AI would be an "age of abundance" with a "universal high income" instead of a universal basic income but warned of "humanoid robots" that might chase humans.

Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following a world-first AI summit at Bletchley Park in the UK, said AFP.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO said there would come a point when "no job is needed" in the one-to-one with Sunak which was held later in London.

Jobs instead would be just for those who wanted one for "personal satisfaction".

AI was like "a magic genie" that gives you any wishes you want, Musk added, quipping however that those fairy tales rarely end well.

"One of the future challenges is how do you find meaning in life?" he said.

Musk cautioned that "we should be quite concerned" about humanoid robots that "can follow you anywhere".

The tech billionaire stressed the importance of having a physical off switch.

"A humanoid robot can basically chase you anywhere," he said.

"It's something we should be quite concerned about. If a robot can follow you anywhere, what if they get a software update one day, and they're not so friendly any more?"

Sunak responded that "we've all watched" movies about robots that end with the machines being switched off.

The two-day gathering at Bletchley wrapped up Thursday with Western governments and companies involved in so-called next generation "frontier" AI agreeing a new safety testing regime.



Google Wins Delay in Opening Android App Store to Rivals

Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
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Google Wins Delay in Opening Android App Store to Rivals

Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)

A US judge on Friday let Google delay opening Android-powered smartphones to rival app shops, suspending a November 1 deadline ordered in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite-maker Epic Games.

Google was pleased by federal judge James Donato's decision to "temporarily pause the implementation of dangerous remedies demanded by Epic," a company spokesperson said, as an appeals court considers permanently blocking the order stemming from Epic's argument that the tech titan's Android Play store is an illegal monopoly.

"These remedies threaten Google Play's ability to provide a safe and secure experience and we look forward to continuing to make our case," the spokesperson added.

In response to the ruling, a spokesperson for Epic Games said in an email to AFP that Google's appeal was "meritless," citing the judge's deference to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals instead of striking down the order outright.

"The pause... is merely a procedural step," the spokesperson said.

Phones running on the Android operating system have about a 70 percent share of the world's smartphone market.

Google has been hit with a series of recent legal challenges to its dominance.

In August, a different judge found that Google's world-leading search engine was an illegal monopoly.

Google is also facing an antitrust lawsuit in a third federal case in Virginia over its dominance of online advertising.

Under the Epic Games order, for the next three years Google will be prohibited from engaging in several practices that were deemed anticompetitive by the jury in the landmark case.

For instance, the trial found that Google made its Play app store the only method to make payments to third party apps, like Fortnite.

A sizable chunk of app store revenue comes from video games, and Epic Games has long sought to have payments for its mobile games take place outside the Google or Apple app stores that take commissions as high as 30 percent.

Epic mostly lost a similar case against Apple, where a US judge largely ruled in favor of the iPhone-maker.

Apple and Google regularly argue that their app shop commissions are industry standard, and that they pay for benefits such as reach, transaction security and ferreting out malware.