Artificial intelligence and nanotechnology 'threaten civilisation'

Technologies join nuclear war, ecological catastrophe, super-volcanoes and asteroid impacts in Global Challenges Foundation's risk report

Artificial intelligence and nanotechnology have been named alongside nuclear war, ecological catastrophe and super-volcano eruptions as "risks that threaten human civilisation" in a report by the Global Challenges Foundation.

In the case of AI, the report suggests that future machines and software with "human-level intelligence" could create new, dangerous challenges for humanity - although they could also help to combat many of the other risks cited in the report.

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