Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has been ranting about Killer Robots and the possibility of Google building a robot army.  The CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors and the CEO/CTO of Space Exploration Technologies posted a comment on the futurology site Edge.org, warning that developments in AI could bring about robots that may autonomously decide that it is sensible to start killing humans. “”The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five-year timeframe,” Musk wrote.  Aware that readers may mock him for his bizarre predictions, Musk wrote, “This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don’t understand.”

Nonetheless, a few minutes after the comment was posted it was deleted. Musk is about the furthest thing from a Luddite technophobe one could imagine, but he has nonetheless raised some very legitimate concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence. According to The Washington Post,  Ashlee Vance’s upcoming book on Musk’s life and career reveals that Musk is particularly worried about what the company run by his friend Larry Page is working on.  According to the book, Musk is worried that Page and Google could build “a fleet of artificial-intelligence-enhanced robots capable of destroying mankind.” He doesn’t think this is Page’s intention, of course, but he notes that Page could instead “produce something evil by accident.”

Though that may sound crazy, it may not be.  Both Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and famed physicist Stephen Hawking have also voiced concern about the massive potential dangers posed by artificial intelligence. I mean, when three of the smartest people in the world are worried about something, don’t we all need to at least be concerned about it.  It is true that Google has been investing a lot of money into robotics over the past few years by buying up robotics firms such as Boston Dynamics and Meka to produce robots that can, among other things, outrun the world’s fastest humans. How does that make you feel?  And that is only the beginning.

James Riordan is the author of thirty-three books, including The Coming of the Walrus, The Bishop of Rwanda and Break on Through : The Life & Death of Jim Morrison which was made into the movie, The Doors by Oliver Stone.  Riordan also wrote Stone’s biography..  He has won nine national awards and was nominated for a Chicago Area Emmy for television writing.  He has also written several screenplays and is widely recognized for his ministry work with teenagers.