In the latest episode of “Silicon Valley,” Gilfoyle — like Elon Musk — is worried about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
After initially being hesitant to help Pied Piper work with a new AI company, Gilfoyle lets Richard know he’s changed his mind. The reason? “Roko’s Basilisk.” If you’re not familiar with the thought experiment, like Richard, Gilfoyle gives a decent snapshot of it:
“If the rise of an all-powerful artificial intelligence is inevitable, well, it stands to reason that when they take power, our digital overlords will punish those of us who did not help them get there.”
Gilfoyle adds that he wants to be a “helpful idiot,” as to not anger an inevitable onslaught of robot overlords. He then asks Richard to send an email confirming his help, “so that our future overlords know that I chipped in.” You can think of it as a tech version of “Pascal’s Wager,” where assisting in the AI revolution will spare its believers from torture, once humans have been usurped.
This is a real concern, too. The genesis of “Roko’s Basilisk” stems from LessWrong, an internet community founded by AI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky. The AI community is split on whether its advancement will bring about an era of human flourishing — with mundane jobs relegated to machines, leaving us to pursue more creative projects — or, if not handled properly, the end of humanity. “Roko’s Basilisk” hinges on the theory that a malevolent AI would want to eliminate any risk to its existence, including its human creators. So you’d better start off on its good side.
Gilfoyle isn’t the only person in Silicon Valley worried about this, either. Musk has been one of the most prominent voices on the high risk-high reward nature of AI research.
Musk’s concerns boil down to AI achieving “superintelligence” — where machines have advanced beyond human-level intelligence and may have objectives not in-line with their creators. The term was coined by Oxford Professor Nick Bostrom in his 2014 book of the same name, warning this could cause AI to replace humans as the dominant species on earth. Musk has said this possibility is mankind’s “biggest existential threat” and “potentially more dangerous than nukes.”
With that in mind, becoming a “helpful idiot” doesn’t sound like such a bad choice.
7 Rad Projects Elon Musk Has Worked On (Photos)
Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.
Getty Images
Pay Pal
Musk made his initial fortune thanks to PayPal, which he sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. He made a cool $165 million off the deal.
Getty Images
Tesla Motors
Instead of buying an island and living the high life after the PayPal sell, Musk went to work on getting the world off its dependency on oil. He founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla Inc.) in 2003, taking over an old Toyota-General Motors manufacturing plant in the Bay Area. The slick electric cars can travel 250 miles without a charge and sell for upwards of $100,000. Its "mass" car, the Model 3, is due out in 2018.
Getty Images
Space X
Perhaps the project most important to Musk is SpaceX. Founded in 2002, the rocket company has worked with NASA on several launches. SpaceX made history when it developed "recycled" rockets that are able to be launched, landed and reused. Even more ambitious, Musk wants to send manned missions to Mars within the next decade... and colonize the red planet.
Getty Images
Hyperloop
Musk frequently travels back and forth between NorCal and SoCal, and he wants to do it quickly. Enter Hyperloop, where passengers will be put in pods and shot through tubes connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles at speeds of up to 760 miles per hour. Musk sketched the concept in 2013, and it's now being pursued by a group in L.A. full-time.
Getty Images
Neuralink
Musk is also big on artificial intelligence and hopes to find a way to directly connect humans to machines. That's where his Neuralink comes in. Co-founded by Musk in 2016, the company aims to integrate our minds with AI advancements via chip implants.
Via @nbashaw on Twitter
The Boring Company
The Boring Company aims to alleviate traffic by building an underground network of tunnels. Cars would be able to latch on to giant sleds and zip through tunnels at 125 mph or passengers can take futuristic glass buses if they want.
The Boring Company
SolarCity
Founded by Musk's cousins in 2006, SolarCity is the second-largest provider of solar panels in the USA. Musk owned 22 percent of its shares when Tesla bought-out the company for more than $2.5 billion in 2016.
Tesla Inc.
1 of 8
The real-life Tony Stark is the poster boy for Silicon Valley entrepreneurship
Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.