Skip to main content current edition: International edition The Guardian - Back to home Become a supporter Subscribe Find a job Jobs Sign in Search Show More Close with google sign in become a supporter subscribe search find a job dating more from the guardian: change edition: edition International edition The Guardian - Back to home browse all sections close Artificial intelligence (AI) The Observer Artificial intelligence: ‘We’re like children playing with a bomb’ Sentient machines are a greater threat to humanity than climate change, according to Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom Nick Bostrom.
 compete with the great composers’: Nick Bostrom.
 Photograph: The Washington Post Artificial intelligence (AI) The Observer Artificial intelligence: ‘We’re like children playing with a bomb’ Sentient machines are a greater threat to humanity than climate change, according to Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom Tim Adams Sun 12 Jun ‘16 08.
30 BST Last modified on Sat 2 Dec ‘17 16.
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 Owl-taming would be complicated; why not get the owl first and work out the fine details later?
 Bostrom’s book, which is a shrill alarm call about the darker implications of artificial intelligence, is dedicated to Scronkfinkle.
 Bostrom articulates his own warnings in a suitably fretful manner.
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 We speak first about the success of his book, the way it has squarely hit a nerve.
 It coincided with the open letter signed by more than 1,000 eminent scientists – including Stephen Hawking, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Musk – and presented at last year’s International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, urging a ban on the use and development of fully autonomous weapons (the “killer robots” of science fiction that are very close to reality).
 Bostrom, who is both aware of his own capacities and modest about his influence, suggests it was a happy accident of timing.
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