When it comes to coming up with dystopian visions of the future, researchers in artificial intelligence can match even the best science fiction writers. Just ask U-M computer science professor Michael Wellman, who dreamed up a stock-market manipulation scenario for a recent AI doomsday workshop which took place at Arizona State University with funding from Tesla Inc. co-founder Elon Musk and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn. Officially dubbed “Envisioning and Addressing Adverse AI Outcomes,” the event organized some 40 scientists, cyber-security experts, and policy wonks into groups of attackers and defenders playing out AI-gone-very-wrong scenarios, ranging from hacking self-driving cars to global warfare. Beyond actual solutions, organizers hope the doomsday workshop started conversations on what needs to happen, raised awareness, and combined ideas from different disciplines.
