Russian president Vladimir Putin has joined the war of words concerning the international race to develop artificial intelligence. Speaking to students last Friday, Putin predicted that whichever country leads the way in AI research will come to dominate global affairs. 
 
 “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind,” said Putin, reports RT. “It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” 
 
 “It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats.” 
 
 The development of artificial intelligence has increasingly become a national security concern in recent years. It is China and the US (not Russia) which are seen as the two frontrunners, with China recently announcing its ambition to become the global leader in AI research by 2030. Many analysts warn that America is in danger of falling behind, especially as the Trump administration prepares to cut funding for basic science and technology research. 
 
 Although it’s thought that artificial intelligence will help boost countries’ economies in a number of areas, from heavy industry to medical research, AI technology will also be useful in warfare. Artificial intelligence can be used to develop cyber weapons, and control autonomous tools like drone swarms — fleets of low-cost quadcopters with a shared ‘brain’ that can be used for surveillance as well as attacking opponents. 
 
 Both China and the US are currently researching this technology, and in his speech on Friday, Putin predicted that future wars would be fought by countries using drones. “When one party's drones are destroyed by drones of another, it will have no other choice but to surrender,” said the Russian president, according to the Associated Press. 
 
 Recently, Elon Musk and 116 other technology leaders sent a petition to the United Nations calling for new regulations on how such AI weapons are developed. The group stated that the introduction of autonomous technology would be tantamount to a “third revolution in warfare,” following the development of gunpowder and nuclear weapons. 
 
 An AI arms race doesn’t necessarily have to be a winner-takes-all scenario, though. Putin noted that Russia did not want to see any one country “monopolize” the field, and said instead: “If we become leaders in this area, we will share this know-how with entire world, the same way we share our nuclear technologies today.” 
 
 Update September 4th, 5:40AM ET: Elon Musk offers his cheery perspective on Twitter: ||||| North Korea ‘low on our list of concerns’ says Tesla boss following Putin’s statement that whoever leads in AI will rule world 
 
 Elon Musk has said again that artificial intelligence could be humanity’s greatest existential threat, this time by starting a third world war. 
 
 The prospect clearly weighs heavily on Musk’s mind, since the SpaceX, Tesla and Boring Company chief tweeted at 2.33am Los Angeles time about how AI could led to the end of the world – without the need for the singularity. 
 
 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo. 
 
 His fears were prompted by a statement from Vladimir Putin that “artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind … It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” 
 
 Hashing out his thoughts in public, Musk clarified that he was not just concerned about the prospect of a world leader starting the war, but also of an overcautious AI deciding “that a [pre-emptive] strike is [the] most probable path to victory”. 
 
 He’s less worried about North Korea’s increasingly bold nuclear ambitions, arguing that the result for Pyongyang if they launched a nuclear missile “would be suicide” – and that it doesn’t have any entanglements that would lead to a world war even if it did. His view is that AI is “vastly more risky” than the Kim Jong-un-led country. 
 
 Musk’s fear of AI warfare has been a driving force in his public statements for a long time. Last month, he was one of more than 100 signatories calling for a UN-led ban of lethal autonomous weapons. 
 
 “Once developed, lethal autonomous weapons will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend,” the letter read. “These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. 
 
 “We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, it will be hard to close.”
– Vladimir Putin has talked about a great many subjects lately, and artificial intelligence is one of them. The Verge reported that on Friday the Russian president had this to say to students he was speaking to: "Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. ... Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world." Elon Musk took notice. He first tweeted, "It begins," along with a link to the Verge article, and followed it up with a darker pronouncement. "China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo." The Guardian's take: "The prospect clearly weighs heavily on Musk’s mind, since the SpaceX, Tesla and Boring Company chief tweeted at 2.33am Los Angeles time." Musk continued tweeting on the subject through a series of replies, writing WWIII "may be initiated not by the country leaders, but one of the AI's, if it decides that a prepemptive [sic] strike is most probable path to victory." And also: "Govts don't need to follow normal laws. They will obtain AI developed by companies at gunpoint, if necessary." He also brushed off concerns over the situation with North Korea, recommending that it "be low on our list of concerns for civilizational existential risk. NK has no entangling alliances that wd polarize world into war." Further, he sees a nuke launch as "suicide" for Kim Jong Un as the US and other powers would swoop in and end the regime.