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.



Nokia Joins Ericsson in Seeing Signs of Recovery after Mixed Results

FILE PHOTO: A Nokia logo is seen at company's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
FILE PHOTO: A Nokia logo is seen at company's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
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Nokia Joins Ericsson in Seeing Signs of Recovery after Mixed Results

FILE PHOTO: A Nokia logo is seen at company's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
FILE PHOTO: A Nokia logo is seen at company's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

Finnish telecom equipment supplier Nokia on Thursday reported a 9% rise in third-quarter operating profit on cost cuts, and echoed rival Ericsson in seeing demand recovery in some areas.
However, quarterly net sales fell 8% to 4.33 billion euros ($4.70 billion), missing estimates of 4.76 billion euros due mainly to lower sales to India. That sent its shares down 3%, Reuters said.
Both Nokia and Ericsson said North America has started to show signs of growth after years of weakness, but Nokia's market share in the region had dropped after losing contracts with Verizon and AT&T over the years.
"We have seen a really bad cycle... Now that decline is over and it is starting to gradually recover, which is good, but it (telecom) will never be a huge growth market," CEO Pekka Lundmark said in an interview.
He cautioned that growth was happening more slowly than earlier expected.
"North America has started to show pretty good signs, and we had strong growth in Q3 in network infrastructure," Lundmark said.
Nokia's total addressable market in telecom stands at around $84 billion.
To look for growth, Nokia has been targeting the data center and defense sectors, splurging $2.3 billion to buy US optical networking gear maker Infinera in June to target data center operators.
"That's where the growth will come from, and that growth is starting already," Lundmark said.
Demand from Indian clients, which has dropped significantly this year, is also recovering after Nokia last month got a big contract from Vodafone Idea and is expected to get another from Bharti Airtel .
"India will return back to growth next year," Lundmark said.
Comparable earnings before interest and tax rose to 454 million euros, beating the 424 million euros expected by analysts in an LSEG poll.

Nokia maintained its full-year profit outlook of 2.3 billion to 2.9 billion euros, but said it was currently tracking within the bottom half of that range.