In the next 100 years 'computers will overtake humans' and we need to be prepared, says Stephen Hawking

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking doesn't think humans will be the smartest thinkers on the planet 100 years from now.

Instead, computers are likely to surpass humans in artificial intelligence at some point within the next century, he said during a conference in London this week.

Here's what he said during Zeitgeist 2015 conference, according to a report in TechWorld:

Computers will overtake humans with AI at some within the next 100 years. When that happens, we need to make sure the computers have goals aligned with ours.

This isn't the first time Hawking has spoken out about the topic of artificial intelligence and the potential threat it could pose. Back in December, he told the BBC that artificial intelligence "could spell the end of the human race."

Hawking isn't the only tech and science thought leader who is worried about AI. Earlier this year, he signed an open letter alongside SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk urging caution when developing artificial intelligence moving forward. Bill Gates also revealed during an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit that he agrees with Elon Musk on this topic, saying that we should be concerned about artificial intelligence.

Physicist and entrepreneur Louis Del Monte made a remark similar to Hawking's when speaking with former Business Insider reporter Dylan Love last year, saying the following:

Today there's no legislation regarding how much intelligence a machine can have, how interconnected it can be. If that continues, look at the exponential trend. We will reach the singularity in the timeframe most experts predict. From that point on you're going to see that the top species will no longer be humans, but machines.

Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page doesn't necessarily think the rise of artificial intelligence is necessarily a bad thing - when speaking with the Financial Times last year, he noted that the introduction of more machines into the workforce could benefit the economy:

You can't wish away these things from happening, they are going to happen," he told the Financial Times on the subject of artificial intelligence infringing on the job market. "You're going to have some very amazing capabilities in the economy. When we have computers that can do more and more jobs, it's going to change how we think about work. There's no way around that. You can't wish it away.