James Bond's job in danger from AI? MI6 boss has his say on technology

Sir Richard Moore, the head ofthe UK's foreign intelligence service, MI6 has said artificial intelligence (AI) will not be able to replacehuman spies, even as machines make accessing information 'infinitely easier'.

"AI is going to make information infinitely more accessible and some have asked whether it will put intelligence services like mine out of business. In fact, the opposite is likely to be true," said Moore, in a landmark address in Prague.

Moore lauded the human factor, simply because the spies had the capability to ask questions, one that machines may not necessarily ask when tasked with a job.

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"They [human spies]are never just passive collectors of information: our agents can be tasked and directed; they can identify new questions we didn't know to ask; and sometimes they can influence decisions inside a government or terrorist group."

The MI6 boss is of the view that human intelligence will be able to unlock doors that AI may not be able to do. He added that advancing technology can also complement the 'human factor'.

"Human intelligence in the age of artificial intelligence will increasingly be defined as those things that machines cannot do, albeit we should expect the frontier of machine capability to advance with startling speed."

10, Downing Street on same page

The MI6 chief's views align with the version put forth by 10, Downing Street. Last month,Matt Clifford, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's adviser on AI said vastly intelligent artificial intelligence(AI) systems may have the capability to "kill humans" within the next two years.

Clifford, who is currently constituting a government AI taskforce, said policymakers from across the globe need to work together to control the technology, which otherwise could have devastating consequences.

“You can have really very dangerous threats to humans that could kill many humans, not all humans, simply from where we’d expect models to be in two years' time,” said Clifford.

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The letter calling for ban on AI

Earlier in March, an open letter by theFuture of Life Institute, a think tank, signed by Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak amongst others, took a very cautious approach to the next generation of AI. The letter cited 12 pieces of research from experts that included former employees of OpenAI, Google as well as DeepMind.

"Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter stated.

Meanwhile,Geoffrey Hinton, often regarded as the 'godfather' of AI technology has already urgedgovernments to intervene and prevent AI machines from taking control of society.

Hinton, who recently left Google to speak more openly about the risks of AI, expressed his concern that the risks associated with AI should not be dismissed as science fiction or fear-mongering.

"Before AI is smarter than us, I think the people developing it should be encouraged to put a lot of work into understanding how it might try and take control away."

"Right now there are 99 very smart people trying to make AI better and one very smart person trying to figure out how to stop it taking over and maybe you want to be more balanced," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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