Tomorrow the long-awaited documentary, Lo and Behold by Werner Herzog, will premiere. We gave you lowdown a while ago when Herzog asked poignant questions about Pokemon Go.

Here’s the gist of the doccie:

Told in short, episodic acts, the film’s subjects range from a family that was targeted by unimaginable harassment after the death of their daughter, to an internet addiction rehab facility, to the UCLA basement where the very first message was sent over a network.

One “episodic act” features tech genius Elon Musk. While Elon’s thoughts about the world and its relationship with forces outside its atmosphere are highly entertaining – like when he spoke about us being in a video game – they should still be regarded as highly valuable thought nuggets.

Here’s a snippet of the doccie – released exclusively to Fortune – which shows Elon explaining what he thinks is the “biggest risk” that AI poses to humanity:

Here the transcript, thanks to Fortune:

“I think that the biggest risk is not that the AI will develop a will of its own,” Musk says, clarifying his unease, “but rather that it will follow the will of people that establish its utility function.”

“If it is not well thought out—even if its intent is benign—it could have quite a bad outcome,” he continues, going on to provide a hypothetical doomsday scenario in which robo-investors incite war. “If you were a hedge fund or private equity fund and you said, ‘Well, all I want my AI to do is maximize the value of my portfolio,’ then the AI could decide, well, the best way to do that is to short consumer stocks, go long defense stocks, and start a war.”

“That would obviously be quite bad,” Musk says, lowering his eyes, dispassionately.

Pretty bleak outlook if that is what doomsday will look like, huh?

No wonder he backed a non-profit research organization, Open AI, that aims to ensure the tech is developed ethically and safely.

[source:fortune]