Google CEO Sundar Pichai, speaking at a taped television event hosted by MSNBC and The Verge’s sister site Recode, said artificial intelligence is one of the most profound things that humanity is working on right now and compared it to basic utilities in terms of its importance.
Pichai said AI is “one of the most important things that humanity is working on.
It’s more profound than, I don’t know, electricity or fire,” adding that people learned to harness fire for the benefits of humanity, but also needed to overcome its downsides, too.
Pichai also said that AI could be used to help solve climate change issues, or to cure cancer.
The remarks from the chief executive of Google, which is largely perceived as one of the world leaders in the development of artificial intelligence, came after Swisher asked repeatedly about AI’s impact on jobs and observed that Silicon Valley tends to have a “shiny happy future” outlook about disruptive technologies.
