Last week, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket ever launched by a private company – with 27 engines. The Falcon Heavy is an upgraded version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which for years has been shuttling supplies to the International Space Station. This time the Falcon Heavy launched into space a Tesla Roadster, built by Musk’s other company, with a mannequin strapped into the driver’s seat. According to the New York Times, both are expected to remain in orbit for “hundreds of millions of years.”
Musk and SpaceX are using this milestone to launch a series of even bigger rockets known as the B.F.R. “We want a new space race,” said Elon Musk. SpaceX is one of several emerging companies entering the new sector of private space travel, and the Heavy is expected to make it far more competitive for government contracts. SpaceX was able to recover the first-stage rocket after launch, and the mannequin is now driving into an orbit that extends beyond mars.
We live in an age of rapid technological innovation. Just as companies like SpaceX are considering all the possibilities and consequences of a rocket launch, AIWS is considering the consequences of artificial intelligence. To that end, we’ve published the Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security, and in April 2018 Boston Global Forum, Michael Dukakis Institute, and AIWS will host the BGF-G7 Summit conference to discuss ethics for AI.
