Elon Musk warns of ‘benign dependency’ on AI: ‘dangerous to civilization’

Long known for his warnings on the potential dangers of A.I., Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday cautioned that even a "benign dependency" on these complex machines can threaten civilization.  

Musk’s reasoning was that reliance on A.I. to perform seemingly simple tasks can, over time, create an environment in which humans forget how to operate the machines that enabled A.I. in the first place. 

"Even benign dependency on AI/Automation is dangerous to civilization if taken so far that we eventually forget how the machines work," Musk tweeted. 

The argument...