Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic notion, but a vibrant reality shaping our daily experiences and the fabric of our societies.
As we stand on the brink of what could be the greatest technological revolution in human history, the words of visionaries, experts, and pioneers in the field echo with significance.
From cautionary advice to optimistic forecasts, AI has inspired a wealth of commentary that reflects the complexity and potential of this transformative technology.
Here are 50+ of the most thought-provoking quotes about AI from leading minds across various industries. These insights offer a panoramic view on AI’s current impact, ethical considerations, and its boundless future possibilities.
Artificial Intelligence & Humanity Quotes
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” – Stephen Hawking
“AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on.” – Sundar Pichai
“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, and we will have multiplied the intelligence – the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization – a billion-fold.” – Ray Kurzweil
“The real question is, when will we draft an artificial intelligence bill of rights? What will that consist of? And who will get to decide that?” – Gray Scott
“I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.” – Claude Shannon
“The sad thing about artificial intelligence is that it lacks artifice and therefore intelligence.” – Jean Baudrillard
“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” – Eliezer Yudkowsky
“I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish.” – Elon Musk (on AI)
“Artificial intelligence is the new electricity.” – Andrew Ng
“The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.” – Edsger W. Dijkstra
“I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.” – Alan Turing
“The coming era of Artificial Intelligence will not be the era of war, but be the era of deep compassion, non-violence, and love.” – Amit Ray
“Artificial intelligence is growing up fast, as are robots whose facial expressions can elicit empathy and make your mirror neurons quiver.” – Diane Ackerman
“I’m more frightened than interested by artificial intelligence – in fact, perhaps fright and interest are not far away from one another. Things can become real in your mind, you can be tricked, and you believe things you wouldn’t ordinarily. A world run by automatons doesn’t seem completely unrealistic any more. It’s a bit chilling.” – Gemma Whelan
“The key to artificial intelligence has always been the representation.” – Jeff Hawkins
“The upheavals [of artificial intelligence] can escalate quickly and become scarier and even cataclysmic. Imagine how a medical robot, originally programmed to rid cancer, could conclude that the best way to obliterate cancer is to exterminate humans who are genetically prone to the disease.” – Nick Bilton
“I don’t want to really scare you, but it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ houses, to which they could flee if it all hits the fan.” – James Barrat
“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial.” – Max Tegmark
“Artificial intelligence will fundamentally change the way we operate and exist as people. It will bring some benefits but it will also carry baggage that is quite heavy. Jobs will vanish. Wealth will be acquired. Gaps broadened. Trust broken. Wars won. Lives loss. Lives saved.” – Ross Simmonds
“Artificial intelligence is just a new tool, one that can be used for good and for bad purposes and one that comes with new dangers and downsides as well. We know already that although machine learning has huge potential, data sets with ingrained biases will produce biased results – garbage in, garbage out.” – Cathy O’Neil
“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence, the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization a billion-fold.” – Ray Kurzweil
“The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. Unless you have direct exposure to groups like Deepmind, you have no idea how fast—it is growing at a pace close to exponential.” – Elon Musk
“I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish.” – Elon Musk (on AI)
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race….It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.” – Stephen Hawking
“I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.” – Alan Turing
“I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.” – Claude Shannon
“I don’t fear a computer that can think like a human. I fear a human that can think like a computer.” – Anonymous
“The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point.” – Claude Shannon
“Artificial Intelligence: the art of making computers that behave like the ones in movies.” – Bill Bulko
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” – Ginni Rometty
“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence, the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization a billion-fold.” – Ray Kurzweil
“Two things can be true at the same time. First truth – AI will eventually catch up to us [humans] and be able to do everything we can do. Second truth – the fact that some regions of the world still don’t have stable internet connection demonstrates that it’s still going to be a long time before AI disrupts every single human” – Ross Simmonds
“The key to artificial intelligence has always been the representation.” – Jeff Hawkins
“The sad thing about artificial intelligence is that it lacks artifice and therefore intelligence.” – Jean Baudrillard
“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” – Eliezer Yudkowsky
“I’m more frightened than interested by artificial intelligence – in fact, perhaps fright and interest are not far away from one another. Things can become real in your mind, you can be tricked, and you believe things you wouldn’t ordinarily. A world run by automatons doesn’t seem completely unrealistic any more. It’s a bit chilling.” – Gemma Whelan
“The coming era of Artificial Intelligence will not be the era of war, but be the era of deep compassion, non-violence, and love.” – Amit Ray
“Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.” – Alan Kay
“It’s going to be interesting to see how society deals with artificial intelligence, but it will definitely be cool.” – Colin Angle
“I am telling you, the world’s first trillionaires are going to come from somebody who masters AI and all its derivatives and applies it in ways we never thought of.” – Mark Cuban
“The upheavals [of artificial intelligence] can escalate quickly and become scarier and even cataclysmic. Imagine how a medical robot, originally programmed to rid cancer, could conclude that the best way to obliterate cancer is to exterminate humans who are genetically prone to the disease.” – Nick Bilton
“I don’t want to really scare you, but it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ houses, to which they could flee if it all hits the fan.” – James Barrat
“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial.” – Max Tegmark