Former Google CEO: A time will come to consider ‘unplugging’ AI system

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Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that the power of artificial intelligence (AI) can reach a “dangerous” point in the future and that humanity should be ready to step away from it should the time come.

“When the system can self-improve, we need to seriously think about unplugging it,” he said Sunday on ABC News.

Schmidt looked ahead at what AI can be capable of, believing that computers will eventually be able to define their own objectives.

Schmidt co-authored a book with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about artificial intelligence called “Genesis,” in which he discusses the “incredible power” of AI while “preserving human dignity and values.”

“It’s going to be hugely hard. It’s going to be very difficult to maintain that balance,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “Because the system has moved so quickly.”

Stephanopoulos also brought up China’s developmental progress, to which Schmidt said that although the U.S. used to be ahead, China has caught up during the past year and is on track to surpass American technological programs.

As AI “scientists” begin to do their own research over human scientists, Schmidt said it was crucial for the U.S. to get to this threshold first.

“The Chinese are clever, and they understand the power of a new kind of intelligence for their industrial might, their military might, and their surveillance system,” Schmidt said.

He added that there should be more intervention for adding guardrails to AI instead of leaving it in the hands of technological leaders like himself.

“Humans will not be able to police AI, but AI systems should be able to police AI,” he said.

Given the competition with China, Schmidt said President-elect Trump’s administration could be good for AI policy.