--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others…" description: "\"Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have stated that they think AI is an existential risk. I disagree. I don't see a risk to humanity of a 'Terminat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/614/ramez-naam-5111_ai_elon-musk-stephen-hawking-and-others-hav_1427481.jpg" --- # Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have stated that… ![“Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have stated that they think AI is an existential risk. I disagree. I don't see a risk to humanity of a 'Terminator' scenario or anything of the sort.” quote by Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/614/ramez-naam-5111_ai_elon-musk-stephen-hawking-and-others-hav_1427481.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/614/ramez-naam-5111_ai_elon-musk-stephen-hawking-and-others-hav_1427481.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/614/ramez-naam-5111_ai_elon-musk-stephen-hawking-and-others-hav_1427481.jpg) > “Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have stated that they think AI is an existential risk. I disagree. I don't see a risk to humanity of a 'Terminator' scenario or anything of the sort.” [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker argues that AI does not pose a catastrophic, Terminator‑style threat to humanity. **In simple terms:** AI is not an existential danger. Key Takeaway Consider AI benefits over fear. Themes technology risk future ethics Mood cautious critical Type analytical skeptical When to use this quote - policy debates - investment decisions - public discourse - education programs Key Concepts existential risk AI alignment Questions to Reflect On - What safeguards are needed now? - How can we balance optimism with vigilance? A Different Perspective Overlooking long‑term unknowns may lead to complacency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Existential](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) ## Related quotes > [A lot of people are scared that machines will take over the world, machines will turn evil: the Hollywood 'Terminator' scenario.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oren-etzioni/a-lot-of-people-are-scared-that-machines-will-take-over-the-world/) [Oren Etzioni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oren-etzioni/) > [“Using figure B, we can stipulate that an existential risk is equivalent to (i) all red-dot catastrophes, and (ii) any black-dot catastrophe that significantly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-torres/using-figure-b-we-can-stipulate-that-an-existential-risk-is/) Phil Torres > [Theorists write all the popular books on science: Heinz Pagels, Frank Wilczek, Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman, et al. And why not? They have all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-m-lederman/theorists-write-all-the-popular-books-on-science-heinz-pagels-frank/) [Leon M. 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We have to have development in new technology if we're going to solve these environmental problems without throwing humanity back in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/technology-is-vital-we-have-to-have-development-in-new-technology-if/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [We have to slow down the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from coal burning, oil and eventually natural gas... And the best ways…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/we-have-to-slow-down-the-emissions-of-carbon-dioxide-and-methane-from/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [I'm a geek through and through. My last job at Microsoft was leading much of the search engine relevance work on Bing. There we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/i-m-a-geek-through-and-through-my-last-job-at-microsoft-was-leading/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [Technology is incredibly powerful. 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I used to think that climate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/on-almost-every-environmental-issue-i-care-about-in-fact-i-ve-been/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [The accumulated knowledge of materials, computing, electromagnetism, product design, and all the rest that we've learned over the last several centuries converts a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/the-accumulated-knowledge-of-materials-computing-electromagnetism/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [In the end, I expect we'll have AI that is better than we are at nearly every narrow task but which are still our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/in-the-end-i-expect-we-ll-have-ai-that-is-better-than-we-are-at/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [If we fix our economic system and invest in the human capital of the poor, then we should welcome every new person born as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/if-we-fix-our-economic-system-and-invest-in-the-human-capital-of-the/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [We have climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from human power and transportation infrastructure. At the same time, we have 2 billion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/we-have-climate-change-caused-by-greenhouse-gas-emissions-mostly-from/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [Many of the most science-fictional tools to fight climate change are untested, are almost impossible to truly test at planetary scale - we only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/many-of-the-most-science-fictional-tools-to-fight-climate-change-are/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [If the incentives are aligned right - towards better preservation and restoration of nature and natural resources - then you'll see a tremendous amount…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/if-the-incentives-are-aligned-right-towards-better-preservation-and/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [I've read science fiction my whole life. I never really dreamed that I'd be a published science fiction writer myself, but a short story…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/i-ve-read-science-fiction-my-whole-life-i-never-really-dreamed-that-i/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [“We think of ourselves as individuals, but all that we have accomplished, and all that we will accomplish, is the result of groups of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/we-think-of-ourselves-as-individuals-but-all-that-we-have/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) [Explore all 103 Ramez Naam quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) ## More AI quotes > [Having been trained as a computer scientist in the '90s, everybody knew that AI didn't work. People tried it. They tried neural nets, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergey-brin/having-been-trained-as-a-computer-scientist-in-the-90s-everybody-knew/) [Sergey Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergey-brin/) > [AI and other emerging technologies will determine the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-husted/ai-and-other-emerging-technologies-will-determine-the-future/) [Jon Husted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-husted/) > [“Stomach full of jitters, little beasts that were second cousins to guacamolians—little green monsters that wreaked havoc in your stomach.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kely-mcclung/stomach-full-of-jitters-little-beasts-that-were-second-cousins-to/) [William Kely McClung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kely-mcclung/) > [“Imagine, Bishop, that you have a beloved cat, but that your cat is not with you. If you close your eyes and further imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-marusek/imagine-bishop-that-you-have-a-beloved-cat-but-that-your-cat-is-not/) [David Marusek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-marusek/) > [AI might be a powerful technology, but things won't get better simply by adding AI.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vivienne-ming/ai-might-be-a-powerful-technology-but-things-won-t-get-better-simply/) [Vivienne Ming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vivienne-ming/) > [OpenAI is doing important work by releasing tools which promote AI to be developed in the open. Compute power is largely produced by NVIDIA…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-ehrsam/openai-is-doing-important-work-by-releasing-tools-which-promote-ai-to/) [Fred Ehrsam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-ehrsam/) > [It's hard for me to speculate about what motivates somebody like Stephen Hawking or Elon Musk to talk so extensively about AI. I'd have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oren-etzioni/it-s-hard-for-me-to-speculate-about-what-motivates-somebody-like/) [Oren Etzioni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oren-etzioni/) > [If you could train an AI to be a Buddhist, it would probably be pretty good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reid-hoffman/if-you-could-train-an-ai-to-be-a-buddhist-it-would-probably-be-pretty/) [Reid Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reid-hoffman/) > [“In the race to scale a startup, overlooking financial planning is like to building a skyscraper on shaky ground. True growth stems from decisions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-hishmeh/in-the-race-to-scale-a-startup-overlooking-financial-planning-is-like/) Jason Hishmeh > [I'm a geek through and through. My last job at Microsoft was leading much of the search engine relevance work on Bing. There we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramez-naam/i-m-a-geek-through-and-through-my-last-job-at-microsoft-was-leading/) [Ramez Naam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramez-naam/) > [Emotion AI will be ingrained in the technologies we use every day, running in the background, making our tech interactions more personalized, relevant, authentic,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rana-el-kaliouby/emotion-ai-will-be-ingrained-in-the-technologies-we-use-every-day/) [Rana el Kaliouby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rana-el-kaliouby/) > [Even a cat has things it can do that AI cannot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fei-fei-li/even-a-cat-has-things-it-can-do-that-ai-cannot/) [Fei-Fei Li](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fei-fei-li/) > [AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oren-etzioni/ai-is-a-tool-the-choice-about-how-it-gets-deployed-is-ours/) [Oren Etzioni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oren-etzioni/) > [I joined Baidu in 2014 to work on AI. Since then, Baidu's AI group has grown to roughly 1,300 people, which includes the 300-person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/i-joined-baidu-in-2014-to-work-on-ai-since-then-baidu-s-ai-group-has/) [Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/) > [“But on the question of whether the robots will eventually take over, he { Rodney A. Brooks } says that this will probably not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michio-kaku/but-on-the-question-of-whether-the-robots-will-eventually-take-over/) [Michio Kaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michio-kaku/) Browse all 315 AI quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have stated that they think AI is an existential risk. I disagree. 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