Stephen Hawking: "AI may be the worst thing that has ever happened to humanity"

Paddy Cosgrove, co-founder of the Web Summit, addressed the audience at the opening event in Lisbon on Monday evening. The Web Summit was held for the first time in 2010, with just 400 people in attendance. Today, almost 60,000 visitors are expected. "The technology of the future is turning our world upside down," said Cosgrove. "This is exciting, but also terrifying. Over the next few days, our speakers will present the promises and challenges of the latest tech trends."AI: opportunity or the beginning of the end?The highlight of the evening was a video message from Stephen Hawking. The physics legend addressed words of warning to the numerous guests. On the one hand, he emphasized the opportunities offered by new technologies: the fatal damage to the environment caused by industrialization could perhaps be neutralized. However, Hawking also warned that we simply do not know in which direction artificial intelligence will develop: "It could be the best, but also the worst invention of mankind." Hawking insisted that mankind must prepare for artificial intelligence. Institutions are needed to control AI. "It may be that AI will soon make millions of jobs redundant. Nevertheless, I believe that together we can create an AI that improves our world. We are at the beginning of a new world."MK reports liveMK will be reporting from the mega event in a live blog over the next few days. From tomorrow, you can read about all the key findings from the Web Summit for the marketing world.