Gay humans, welcome to the safe space for dangerous ideas. And what idea is more dangerous at the

moment than artificial intelligence and its consequences for humankind, for you, for me, for

civilization? Today's guest knows more about the subject than just about anybody else. Toby

Walsh runs the

artificial intelligence lab at UNSW, the University of New South Wales, which is one of Australia's

big Ivy League sandstone institutions. Toby was invited earlier this year to sign that famous letter

that was signed by a bunch of AI luminaries the world over, warning policymakers

and the public that artificial intelligence poses a threat to humankind on a level of pandemics

or nuclear weapons. He declined to sign that letter, which is interesting in itself. But back in 2015, he authored a letter

that was signed by 20,000 of his colleagues encouraging governments not to use AI in warfare

and banning militaries from doing so. In fact, he's been influential in pressuring the Australian

government to take a lead on this at various international forums.

He's written three books about artificial intelligence.

It's Alive. Artificial intelligence from the logic piano to killer robots, a book called

22, The World that AI Made.

And most recently, machines behaving badly, the morality of AI.

Few people think about this subject in as knowledgeable and impartial way as Professor Toby Walsh. Please enjoy this conversation with Toby Walsh. Should I turn my phone off, do you think?

Would that be a professional thing to do?

Well, unless you want the machines to be listening.

Are they?

That's not true, right?

No.

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