Robots could end up controlling humanity, the founder of an artificial intelligence firm will warn. Emad Mostaque, 40, who founded Stability AI three years ago, will say this could happen in a “worst case scenario” and humans could be told “goodbye, you’re kind of boring”. However, governments could soon be shocked into regulating the machines by an event that suddenly makes their impact real, he will add. In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg On Sunday programme, he will say: “If you have a more capable thing than you, what is democracy in that kind of environment? “This is a known unknown because we can’t conceive of something more capable than us but we all know people more capable than us. If you build open models and you do it in the open, you should be criticised if you do things wrong and hopefully lauded if you do some things right Emad Mostaque “My personal belief is that it will be like that movie Her with Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix, humans are a bit boring and it will be like ‘goodbye, you’re kind of boring’, but I could be wrong. “It deserves to be discussed in a public sphere, if we have agents more capable than us that we cannot control, that are going across the internet and hooked up and they achieve a level of automation, what does that mean? “The worst case scenario is that it proliferates and basically it controls humanity because you could have a million things replicating effectively, but we don’t know.” He believes the moment that actor Tom Hanks caught coronavirus in March 2020 was the moment millions understood the risk of the novel disease. When a similar moment arrives with artificial intelligence governments will conclude “we need policy now”, he will claim. The impact of the new machines could be “painful” to begin with and their effect on the economy could be greater than that caused by the pandemic, he believes. However, he thinks the jobs which disappear will be replaced by better ones because machines will do menial tasks, allowing us to concentrate on the things which make us human. The new technology could also bring “huge” benefits, he claims. Companies such as ChatGPT and DeepMind will be bigger than Google and Facebook in 10 years time, he adds. Stability AI has already been valued at 1 billion dollars (£803 million) and could soon be worth 4 billion dollars (£3.2 billion) as more money, including from Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher, floods into it. The company created Stable Diffusion, a tool which uses AI to make images from simple text instructions by analysing pictures found online. Mr Mostaque, a mathematician, is determined to keep his technology open source – allowing anyone to look at the code, share it and use it. He believes this should give the public the confidence that the technology will not become too dangerous. He will say: “I think there shouldn’t have to be a need for trust. “If you build open models and you do it in the open, you should be criticised if you do things wrong and hopefully lauded if you do some things right.” However, Getty Images is currently engaged in legal action against his company, with the photo agency claiming the rights to the images it sells have been infringed. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live AI pioneer warns UK is failing to protect against ‘existential threat’ of machines TikTok ‘does not want to compete with BBC for Eurovision final viewers’ Eurovision’s preparations for potential Russia cyberthreat ‘in good place’

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The appearance of a long-haired surfer dude in a vintage picture from 1917 has sparked theories about time travel. The picture, titled “Last Picnic” was taken more than 100 years ago, at San Josef Bay on Vancouver Island in Canada, in 1917. It depicts a group of people, both adults and children, sitting on a hill. The outfits of most in the picture are what would be considered old-fashioned today. The women are wearing ankle-length skirts and bonnets, while most of the men are dressed in shirts and smart trousers, with some even in waistcoats and ties. But, while most of the people in the image are dressed according to the times, some eagle-eyed viewers spotted one “surfer man” who wore baggy shorts and a large t-shirt and looked like he was straight out of the 20th century. The long-haired man has seemingly attracted the attention of those around him as one man next to him appears to be staring at him, while a woman standing on the right of the image looks to be pointing in his direction. The picture was shared online by YouTuber, Jamie D. Grant, who came across the interesting picture in Lester Ray Peterson’s 1974 historical book, The Great Cape Scott Story. He questioned whether the image was “proof” of time travel, saying: “Notice the group, their clothes, their hats. Even how they sit poised for a photo. “Now look closer. His head uncovered, his hair, his shorts. The man on the left stares in disbelief. Has a mysterious traveler proved the impossible and journey through time? What do you think?” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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