TECH billionaire Elon Musk believes artificial intelligence could be catastrophic for humanity who are set to become a cyborg race which will have to grapple with 15 per cent of the global work force being without a job.

The creative genius added a ‘universal income’ would have to be introduced for the global population because robots will do everything.

11 Tech billionaire Elon Musk has issued a stark warning saying artificial intelligence could be the end of the human race

11 Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai he also said he thought thanks to our dependence on smartphones people were almost part 'cyborg' Credit: Eyevine

11 Musk warned that robots would take people's jobs leaving many with no reason to live and now way or earning an income Credit: Getty Images

Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, the entrepreneur also told the 4000 strong conference he saw space flights to the far reaches of the solar system being as common as a plane ride in 50 years.

And self-driven cars were just 10 years away from usurping human driven vehicles completely.

The business magnate, who was being interviewed by Mohammad Abdulla Alergawi, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future for the UAE, told the slightly perplexed crowd: "One of the most troubling questions is artificial intelligence. I don’t mean narrow A.I - deep artificial intelligence, where you can have AI which is much smarter than the smartest human on earth. This is a dangerous situation."

He also warned world governments: "Pay close attention to the development of artificial intelligence.

"Make sure researchers don’t get carried away – scientists get so engrossed in their work they don’t realise what they are doing."

When asked if he thought A.I was a good or a bad thing Musk said: "I think it is both.

"One way to think of it is imagine you were very confident we were going to be visited by super intelligent aliens in 10 years or 20 years at the most.

11 Musk has founded SpaceX as well as PayPal and Tesla Motors Credit: Rex Features

11 He has plans to get humans to Mars to live on the red planet

"Digital super intelligence will be like an alien."

He then joked: "It seems probable. But this is one of the great questions in physics and philosophy – where are the aliens?

"Maybe they are among us I don’t know. Some people think I am an alien. Not true. "Of course I would say that though wouldn’t I?"

He went on: "If there are super intelligent aliens out there they are probably already observing us.

11 He also warned driverless cars would call for a 'universal income' across the planet as millions would face being jobless Credit: Reuters

11 The entrepreneur said he thought space flight would be as easy as hopping on a plane in a matter of years Credit: Getty Images

The minister introduced Musk by comparing him in brilliance to Albert Einstein but the billionaire revealed that while many may admire his genius, he wasn’t that comfortable with it: "I think that they probably shouldn’t want to be me – it sounds better than it is.

"It is not as much fun as you think. It could be worse for sure (but) I am not sure I want to be me."

Musk also discussed how he saw human beings as already being ‘cyborgs’ as we become more and more dependent on technology.

To muted laughter from the crowd he explained: "To some degree we are already a cyborg - you think of all the digital tools that you have - your phone, your computer. "The applications that you have. The fact that you can ask a question and instantly get an answer from Google and other things.

11 He also warned governments should moitor scientists dealing with AI in case they got too carried away Credit: hotels.com / SWNS

"You already have a digital tertiary layer. Think of the limbic system – the animal brain and the cortex as the thinking part of the brain, and your digital self as a third layer.

"If you die your digital ghost is still around. All of their emails, and social media, that still lives if they die.

"Over time we will see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence. It is all about the band width of the brain.

"The digital extension of yourself. Output if anything is getting worse. We do most of our output through our thumbs which is very slow.

"Some high band width interface to the brain will be something which helps achieve symbiosis between human and machine intelligence, which solves a control and usefulness problem."

11 Musk said we all now have a digital ghost thanks to our dependency on technology Credit: Getty Images

Musk went on to say autonomous cars would be a great convenience, but also a game changer for society, adding he saw the advances in technology causing mass unemployment.

This would result in huge swathes of the population losing their direction and purpose: "I think (driving) might be the single largest employer in various forms.

"We need to figure out new roles – what do those people do? It will be very disruptive and very quick."

Estimating there are nearly two and half billion cars and trucks in the world, he added: "The point at which we see full autonomy appear, will not be the point where we see mass upheaval.

"We are just not smart enough to realise it. Any advanced alien civilization that was at all interested in populating the galaxy, even without exceeding the speed of light, at say 10 or 20 per cent of the speed of light, you could populate the entire galaxy in 20 million years max.

"That is nothing in the grand scheme of things."

11 SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket makes its first successful upright landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship on April 8, 2016 Credit: Getty Images

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"That disruption will take place over 20 years. But 20 years to have 12 – 15 per cent of the work force unemployed is a short time."

His solution was unemployment benefit for the masses: "What to do about mass employment – this is going to be a big challenge.

"We will need to have some kind of universal basic income – I don’t think there will be a choice.

"There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better.

"These are things that I wish would happen, these are things probably will happen.

"I think some kind of universal income will be necessary.

"The harder challenge is how do people then have meaning – because a lot of people derive their meaning from their employment.

"If you are not needed, if there is not a need for your labour. What’s the meaning? "Do you have meaning, are you useless? That is a much harder problem to deal with."

11 The tech mogul, who has six children, was linked to Johnny Depp's ex Amber Heard last year - but the pair are said to know each other through the actor and are friends Credit: Splash News

The business magnate also his plans for space flight revealing he would like to see travel to different planets and solar systems as a common occurrence in as little as 50 years: "I hope we are out there on Mars, and maybe beyond, the moons of Jupiter. I hope we are travelling frequently outside the solar system and nearby star systems.

"I believe all of this will be possible in 50 years."

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