--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It [AI] would take off on its own and…" description: "\"It [AI] would take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compet..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/stephen-hawking-389_artificial-intellige_it-ai-would-take-off-on-its-own-and-rede_2869907.jpg" --- # It \[AI\] would take off on its own and redesign itself at… ![“It [AI] would take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded.” quote by Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/stephen-hawking-389_artificial-intellige_it-ai-would-take-off-on-its-own-and-rede_2869907.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/stephen-hawking-389_artificial-intellige_it-ai-would-take-off-on-its-own-and-rede_2869907.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/stephen-hawking-389_artificial-intellige_it-ai-would-take-off-on-its-own-and-rede_2869907.jpg) > “It \[AI\] would take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded.” [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. AI could self‑improve exponentially, outpacing human evolution and making us obsolete. **In simple terms:** AI may evolve faster than humans. Key Takeaway Prepare for AI impact now. Themes technology future humanity Mood concerned urgent Type philosophical warning When to use this quote - policy making - education - career planning - ethical AI - public awareness Key Concepts singularity exponential growth Questions to Reflect On - How can we steer AI development? - What safeguards are needed? A Different Perspective Human adaptability may limit impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artificial intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial-intelligence/) [Biological evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biological-evolution/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Programming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/programming/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) ## Related quotes > [Unless mankind redesigns itself by changing our DNA through altering our genetic makeup, computer-genera ted robots will take over our world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/unless-mankind-redesigns-itself-by-changing-our-dna-through-altering/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/the-development-of-full-artificial-intelligence-could-spell-the-end/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [Everything that civilisation has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/everything-that-civilisation-has-to-offer-is-a-product-of-human/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-j-futuyma/in-the-broadest-sense-evolution-is-merely-change-and-so-is-all/) Douglas J. Futuyma > [“To compare the rate of progress of the biological evolution of intelligence to that of technological evolution, consider that the most advanced mammals have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/to-compare-the-rate-of-progress-of-the-biological-evolution-of/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [Now, humans have become a dominant force of planetary change and, thus, we may have entered an eon of post-biological evolution in which cognitive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/now-humans-have-become-a-dominant-force-of-planetary-change-and-thus/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [“Evolution is largely a temporal phenomenon, Merrill. The environment changes, and populations in that environment change in turn, or they languish. Individual organisms don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-marusek/evolution-is-largely-a-temporal-phenomenon-merrill-the-environment/) [David Marusek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-marusek/) > [“There is a Divine Providence operating over and above the materialistic happenings of biological evolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-eccles/there-is-a-divine-providence-operating-over-and-above-the/) John C. Eccles > [We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolutionary process has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-are-the-product-of-4-5-billion-years-of-fortuitous-slow-biological/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Evolution explains our biological evolution, but human beings are very unique creatures. As the Dobzhansky said, all animals are unique; humans are the uniquest.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-johanson/evolution-explains-our-biological-evolution-but-human-beings-are-very/) [Donald Johanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-johanson/) > [My colleague Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, erroneously suggested that I support the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-kennedy/my-colleague-sen-rick-santorum-pennsylvania-republican-erroneously/) [Edward Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-kennedy/) > [The Singularity denotes an event that will take place in the material world, the inevitable next step in the evolutionary process that started with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-denotes-an-event-that-will-take-place-in-the-material/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [I seem to be a brief light that flashes but once in all the aeons of time a rare, complicated, and all-too-delicate organism on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/i-seem-to-be-a-brief-light-that-flashes-but-once-in-all-the-aeons-of/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [I am of course getting angry if biologists try to use the general concept 'chance' in order to explain phenomena which are so typical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-paul/i-am-of-course-getting-angry-if-biologists-try-to-use-the-general/) [Wolfgang Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-paul/) > [The most devastating thing though that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution. Now that we know that Adam and Eve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zindler/the-most-devastating-thing-though-that-biology-did-to-christianity/) [Frank Zindler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zindler/) ## More by Stephen Hawking > [The doctor who diagnosed me with ALS, or motor neuron disease, told me that it would kill me in two or three years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/the-doctor-who-diagnosed-me-with-als-or-motor-neuron-disease-told-me/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [We are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/we-are-the-product-of-quantum-fluctuations-in-the-very-early-universe/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [The human race does not have a very good record of intelligent behavior.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/the-human-race-does-not-have-a-very-good-record-of-intelligent/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [“We have finally found something that doesn’t have a cause, because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/we-have-finally-found-something-that-doesn-t-have-a-cause-because/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [ \[On President Bush's plan to get to Mars in 10 years\] Stupid. Robots would do a better job and be much cheaper because you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/on-president-bush-s-plan-to-get-to-mars-in-10-years-stupid-robots/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/i-believe-the-simplest-explanation-is-there-is-no-god-no-one-created/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/the-paralympic-games-is-about-transforming-our-perception-of-the-world/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [The increase of disorder or entropy is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/the-increase-of-disorder-or-entropy-is-what-distinguishes-the-past/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [Most sets of values would give rise to universes that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/most-sets-of-values-would-give-rise-to-universes-that-although-they/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/there-is-a-fundamental-difference-between-religion-which-is-based-on/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [“In the eighteenth century, philosophers considered the whole of human knowledge, including science, to be their field and discussed questions such as: Did the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/in-the-eighteenth-century-philosophers-considered-the-whole-of-human/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [A model is a good model if first it interprets a wide range of observations in terms of a simple and elegant model, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/a-model-is-a-good-model-if-first-it-interprets-a-wide-range-of/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [“Empedocles noticed that if you cover the neck before you immerse it, a clepsydra does not fill. He reasoned that something invisible must be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/empedocles-noticed-that-if-you-cover-the-neck-before-you-immerse-it-a/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/the-human-race-shouldn-t-have-all-its-eggs-in-one-basket-or-on-one/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [I hope I have helped to raise the profile of science and to show that physics is not a mystery but can be understood…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/i-hope-i-have-helped-to-raise-the-profile-of-science-and-to-show-that/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) [Explore all 601 Stephen Hawking quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) ## More Artificial intelligence quotes > [One of our big goals in search is to make search that really understands exactly what you want, understands everything in the world. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-page/one-of-our-big-goals-in-search-is-to-make-search-that-really/) [Larry Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-page/) > [People don't want to believe that technology is broken. Pharmaceuticals, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology - all these areas where the progress has been a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-thiel/people-don-t-want-to-believe-that-technology-is-broken/) [Peter Thiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-thiel/) > [“Paul closed his eyes and turned his face to the sun. In spite of everything, it was hard not to take solace from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-egan/paul-closed-his-eyes-and-turned-his-face-to-the-sun-in-spite-of/) [Greg Egan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-egan/) > [I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/i-think-we-should-be-very-careful-about-artificial-intelligence-if-i/) [Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/) > [“Humans are the biological bootloader for AI.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/utpal-nandi/humans-are-the-biological-bootloader-for-ai/) Utpal Nandi > [There's a very long tail of all sorts of creative products - beyond our core web search, image search and advertising businesses - that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/there-s-a-very-long-tail-of-all-sorts-of-creative-products-beyond-our/) [Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/) > [“artificial intelligence is forcing human endeavor away from simple, algorithmic and repetitive tasks towards solving problems and incubating new ideas. It is the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gyan-nagpal/artificial-intelligence-is-forcing-human-endeavor-away-from-simple/) [Gyan Nagpal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gyan-nagpal/) > [“All right. You want to know about Nigel. I’ll tell you about Nigel. He’s come a long way since that so-called accident, Jon. Heck,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-corey/all-right-you-want-to-know-about-nigel-i-ll-tell-you-about-nigel-he-s/) Shawn Corey > [A lot was happening in A.I. But I also realized it wasn't clear what Salesforce's role in A.I. was. That's when we started acquiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-benioff/a-lot-was-happening-in-a-i-but-i-also-realized-it-wasn-t-clear-what/) [Marc Benioff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-benioff/) > [“AI must orbit humanity, not turn humanity into a lie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/ai-must-orbit-humanity-not-turn-humanity-into-a-lie/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [AI-assisted driving is a perfect platform for advancing fundamental human-centric artificial intelligence research while also producing practical applications.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fei-fei-li/ai-assisted-driving-is-a-perfect-platform-for-advancing-fundamental/) [Fei-Fei Li](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fei-fei-li/) > [Only unsolvable problems are worthy of artificial intelligence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-gorn/only-unsolvable-problems-are-worthy-of-artificial-intelligence/) [Saul Gorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-gorn/) > [“I don’t believe the rogue has freedom.  I think it is following the direction of humans.” “Why do you think so?” “Because I find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-jon-williams/i-don-t-believe-the-rogue-has-freedom-i-think-it-is-following-the/) [Walter Jon Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-jon-williams/) > [The techniques of artificial intelligence are to the mind what bureaucracy is to human social interaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-winograd/the-techniques-of-artificial-intelligence-are-to-the-mind-what/) [Terry Winograd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-winograd/) > [From one perspective, we're in the early stage in artificial intelligence, but exponentials start out slowly, and then they take off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-woodruff/from-one-perspective-we-re-in-the-early-stage-in-artificial/) [Judy Woodruff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-woodruff/) [Browse all 457 Artificial intelligence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial-intelligence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It [AI] would take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate. 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