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A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

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BBC Inside Science: AI and human extinction

AI and human extinction

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, AI and human extinction

The machines are getting smarter. But is this a cause for concern?

Computer experts have said that the risk of human extinction at the hands of AI is so great it should be treated as a global priority. We find out if their fears are justified.

In the headlines this week eminent tech experts and public figures signed an open letter that read “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

One of the signatories was Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called ‘godfather of AI’. He’s  become so concerned about the risks associated with artificial intelligence that he recently decided to quit his job at Google, where he had worked for more than a decade. 

But are these concerns justified, or is it overblown scaremongering? And should we start prepping for a Terminator-style takeover? To get the answers, presenter Gareth Mitchell is joined by computational linguist Prof Emily M. Bender from the University of Washington along with Dr Stephen Cave, Director at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI). 

Next up, we hear from Prof Carl Sayer at UCL, along with Dr Cicely Marshall and Dr Matthew Wilkinson from the University of Cambridge, to dig into the science behind wildflower meadows and whether they can boost biodiversity and even help ease climate change.  

Finally, have you heard about Balto the sled dog? He was part of a life-saving mission in the 1920s and now he has the chance to be a hero once more. His DNA has been studied by the Zoonomia project, which is using databases of genomes from hundreds of mammals to build a better picture of evolution. This data could then be used help identify those animals that are at the greatest risk of extinction. 

Presenter: Gareth Mitchell
Producer: Harrison Lewis
Content Producers: Ella Hubber and Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
Editor: Richard Collings

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