Physicist, BBC presenter and author Brian Cox has spoken about the potential and dangers of artificial intelligence, saying ‘we don’t know how powerful AI is going to become – it’s both exciting and potentially a problem’. Cox, known for his work on the Wonders of the Universe series, made the comments in an interview about his upcoming live show Emergence.
The show takes inspiration from Johannes Kepler’s 1609 book The Six-Cornered Snowflake, in which the astronomer pondered why snowflakes are six-sided. Cox said the book was radical because Kepler admitted he did not know the answer. ‘One of the most important things about the book is that he says, I don’t know. That’s really radical,’ Cox said.
When asked which scientific question he would most like answered, Cox said he would love to know if there is life beyond Earth. ‘We have two spacecraft en route to Jupiter’s moons now. And even the James Webb space telescope now can look at atmospheres of planets around distant stars. And there’s a slim chance that we might detect a signature of life,’ he said.
On the question of whether music is a science or an art, posed by actor Damian Lewis, Cox said he dislikes divisions between disciplines. ‘Science is ultimately a response to the beauty of the world and so is music. All human pursuits are a response to the beauty and mystery of the world,’ he said.
Cox also discussed his changing views on social media, saying he was initially utopian about it but now sees it as a negative influence on politics. He encouraged young people to pursue what they enjoy, noting that his parents supported his early career in music before he later turned to astronomy.
