Elon Musk says ‘singularity’ is here – What to know about AI threats to humanity

Even without superintelligence, malicious swarms of AI bots pose a threat to democracy through coordinated disinformation campaigns, according to a Jan 22 study in the journal Science. — Freepik

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Elon Musk said artificial intelligence will exceed human intelligence this year. But he and other tech executives also warn that this moment, called the singularity, could pose a threat to humanity.

“The rate at which AI is progressing, I think we might have AI that is smarter than any human by the end of this year, and I would say no later than next year,” Musk said in a televised discussion with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. “Five years from now, AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively.”