Autonomous AI Poses Existential Threat—And It’s Almost Here: Former Google CEO

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that there could come a time to consider ‘unplugging’ such systems.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 21, 2011. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) is coming—and that it could pose an existential threat to humanity.

“We’re soon going to be able to have computers running on their own, deciding what they want to do,” Schmidt, who has long spoken out about both the dangers and the benefits AI poses to humanity, said during a Dec. 15 appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”