Elon Musk has not been shy about his concerns over artificial intelligence turning evil.

He's even compared AI to "summoning a demon."

So it wasn't a surprise in December when Musk announced the formation of OpenAI, an open-source, non-profit focused on advancing "digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole."

That's all well and good, but not much has been revealed about what exactly OpenAI is working on. At least not until now.

OpenAI's co-founder and CTO Greg Brockman told Tech Insider that OpenAI is primarily focusing on advancing machine learning, which is the technology that enables computers to learn how to complete tasks through experience.

Specifically, the company is focusing on two key types of machine learning that every major tech company is investing in right now. These are called unsupervised learning and reinforcement learning.

'The next frontier'

A man shakes hands with a humanoid robot during the International Conference on Humanoid Robots in Madrid November 19, 2014. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

Both reinforcement learning and unsupervised learning have to do with making machines think more like humans, albeit it in different ways.

Reinforcement learning is when machines learn to conquer tasks through repeated trial and error. It's the same technique that helped train AlphaGo — Google's AI system that made history when it beat a world champion at the ancient game of Go.

The ability to complete very complex tasks is vital to advancing the field of robotics, Brockman said.

"We're not there yet. We're not at the point of having a robot that can walk around a kitchen and... take out a beer and not bump into things. But there’s something there," he said.

But what Brockman said he sees as "the next frontier" is unsupervised learning, which is really where the money is in AI.

Unsupervised learning refers to giving machines the ability to think and experience the world just like humans. It means they could step outside and have an awareness of their surroundings the same way we do.

"It’s about looking around the world and understanding it," he said. "You read a book on Paris and understand what it’s telling you. That’s something [AI] can’t do very well right now, and if you can, it really shifts the paradigm."

But that's where some might say we get into Terminator-esque territory.

'Definitely concerned with the future'

Chasing after reinforcement learning and unsupervised learning is nothing new — it's something companies like Facebook, Google, and even automakers investing in driverless cars are exploring.

What is meant to differentiate OpenAI is that everything is open sourced in an effort to make this kind of research more accountable.

Not only does that provide a "democratizing effect" when it comes to programming, but helps prevent the "global warming type of effects or outcome that no human really wants," Brockman explained.

"It’s about first saying these systems are becoming capable and a part of our life and we should be thinking about this," he said. "And there’s not much that can be done to think of safety standards for tech doesn't exist yet, but acknowledging that this is going to become important."



Interestingly enough, OpenAI co-chair Sam Altman previously told Tech Insider that he had no concern about AI turning evil, at least not anytime soon.

"That is so far in the future it's difficult to discuss and focus on," Altman said at the time.

Brockman avoided hyperbole on the subject of AI as well, but he did say OpenAI was "definitely concerned with the future, the long term future impacts of AI."

"Our goal is to maximize the probability of things turning out well," he said. "So obviously the flipside is making sure whatever issues are minimized and avoided."

