May 10, 2015 11:08 p.m. ET

Paging Sarah Connor!

After decades as a sci-fi staple, artificial intelligence has leapt into the mainstream. Between Apple AAPL -0.85% s Siri and Amazon AMZN -0.76% s Alexa, IBM IBM -0.60% s Watson and Google GOOG -1.16% Brain, machines that understand the world and respondproductively suddenly seem imminent.

The combination of immense Internet-connected networks and machine-learning algorithms has yielded dramatic advances in machines ability to understand spoken and visual communications, capabilities that fall under the heading narrow artificial intelligence. Can machines capable of autonomous reasoningso-called general AIbe far behind? And at that point, whats to keep them from improving themselves until they have no need for humanity?

The prospect has unleashed a wave of anxiety. I think the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking told the BBC. Tesla founder Elon Musk called AI our biggest existential threat. FormerMicrosoft Chief Executive Bill Gates has voiced his agreement.

How realistic are such concerns? And how urgent? We assembled a panel of experts from industry, research and policy-making to consider the dangersif anythat lie ahead. Taking part in the discussion are Jaan Tallinn, a co-founder of Skype and the think tanks Centre for theStudy of Existential Risk and the Future of Life Institute; Guruduth S. Banavar, vice president of cognitive computing at IBMs Thomas J.Watson Research Center; and Francesca Rossi, a professor of computer science at the University ofPadua, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study atHarvard University and president of the International JointConferences on Artificial Intelligence, the main internationalgathering of researchers in AI.

Here are edited excerpts from their conversation.

WSJ: Does AI pose a threat to humanity?

MR. BANAVAR: Fueled by science-fiction novels and movies, popular treatment of this topic far too often has created a false sense of conflict between humans and machines. Intelligent machines tend to be great at tasks that humans are not so good at, such as sifting through vast data. Conversely, machines are pretty bad at things that humans are excellent at, such as common-sense reasoning, asking brilliant questions and thinking out of the box. The combination of human and machine, which we consider the foundation of cognitive computing, is truly revolutionizing how we solve complex problems in every field.

AI-based systems are already making our lives better in so many ways: Consider automated stock-trading agents, aircraft autopilots, recommendation systems, industrial robots, fraud detectors and search engines. In the last five to 10 years, machine-learning algorithms and advanced computational infrastructure have enabled us to build many new applications.

Link:

Does Artificial Intelligence Pose a Threat? - WSJ