India, Oct. 7 -- In Jurassic Park, the scientists had mastered genetic engineering well enough to re-create dinosaurs, built elaborate systems to contain them, and engineered the animals to not reproduce. They believed that they had thought of everything.

Then reality intervened.

The dinosaurs did not become evil or decide to destroy humanity; they behaved in ways that their creators had failed to anticipate. Catastrophe arose because human beings had created an extraordinarily complex system, overestimated their ability to control it, and discovered too late that their safeguards were inadequate. They had been reckless.

The real danger of artificial intelligence (AI) is not some hypothetical superintelligence's decision to destroy hum...