If we are machines, then in principle at least, we should be able to build machines out of other stuff, which are just as alive as we are.
Much to the surprise of the builders of the first digital computers, programs written for them usually did not work.
Two big questions that people ask me are: if we make these robots more and more human-like, will we accept them – will they need rights eventually? And the other question people ask me is, will they want to take over?
When I look out in the future, I can’t imagine a world, 500 years from now, where we don’t have robots everywhere.
My talent is getting things to work that people think are many decades in the future. I say we can make them happen now.
When people lose faith in the idea, you have to let them go, because they start to undermine it for everyone else.
I’d rather have half of my idea change the world than my whole idea be a few papers in a journal.
If you’re doing something radically new, you need a team that’s willing to go on a ride that’s very different from anything they’ve encountered before.
I begin by looking for megatrends, changes in the world that will create major new demands. My goal is to create a company that can be there to meet those demands.
So robots are good at very simple things like cleaning the floor, like doing a repetitive task. Our robots have a little tiny bit of common sense. Our robots know that if they’ve got something in their hand and they drop it, it’s gone. They shouldn’t go and try and put it down.
Artificial intelligence is a tool, not a threat.