AI could outwit humans in two years, says UK government adviser

Matt Clifford, chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, says AI is evolving much faster than most people realise

One of the British government’s advisers on artificial intelligence has said humanity could have only two years before AI is able to outwit people, the latest in a series of stark warnings about the threat posed by the fast-developing technology.

Matt Clifford, the chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, which the government set up last year, said on Monday that AI was evolving much faster than most people realised. He said it could already be used to launch bioweapons or large-scale cyber-attacks, adding that humans could rapidly be surpassed by the technology they had created.