How to prevent AI from taking over the world

If we can’t teach machines to internalise human values and make decisions based on them, we must accept – and ensure – that AI is of limited use to us.

By Ruth Chang

A self-driving car in San Francisco in March 2017. (Photo By: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Right now AI diagnoses cancer, decides whether you’ll get your next job, approves your mortgage, sentences felons, trades on the stock market, populates your news feed, protects you from fraud and keeps you company when you’re feeling down.

Soon it will drive you to town, deciding along the way whether to swerve to avoid hitting a wayward fox. It will also tell you how to schedule your day, which career best suits your personality and even how many children to have.