SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)Entrepreneur Elon Musk has donated $10 million to the Future of Life Institute, where hes a member of the advisory board, to keep artificial intelligence beneficial to humanity.

It seems very obvious to be that humans should attempt to make the future of humanity good, Musk, the chief executive of electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. TSLA, -0.43% and the chairman of residential solar-power installer SolarCity Corp. SCTY, -4.80% said in a video posted on the institutes website.

It is best to prepare for, to try to prevent a negative circumstance from occurring, than to wait for it to occur and then be reactive, Musk said in the video.

Its not clear whether humanity would be able to recover should artificial intelligence turn against it and in some scenarios humanity doesnt, said Musk, who is also chief executive of privately held Space X and was a co-founder of PayPal Inc.

In October, Musk told Vanity Fair magazine that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence could become a threat to humans. Risks include software and cybersecurity threats.

Musks $10 million will help jump-start research on the safe and ethical use of AI, the institute said.

In July, Musk donated $1 million to an organization that hopes to turn Nikola Teslas laboratory at Shoreham, N.Y., on Long Island, into a science museum that would honor the Serbian-American inventor and scientist for whom Musks car company is named.

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Musk donates $10M to keep artificial intelligence beneficial to humans