Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk has been outspoken in the past about the dangers of artificial intelligence, once saying that we might just be unleashing a demon. Over the weekend, he conveyed a similar message to U.S. governors, telling them to get proactive about AI regulation before it’s too late.

Speaking at the U.S. National Governors Association meeting in Rhode Island, Musk (pictured) was somewhat a harbinger of doom as he told attendees that besides huge job losses, the rise of AI might even result in many other negative consequences as well.

Indeed, Musk believes AI could pose an existential threat to humanity, and so the government shouldn’t wait too long to regulate its development. “AI is the rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation instead of reactive,” he said. “Because I think by the time we are reactive in AI regulation, it’ll be too late. AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.”

Not everyone in tech believes in the mortal threat AI could pose. And some attendees at the meeting raised the question of how to regulate when they are not exactly sure what they are regulating. Musk’s response, according to The Wall Street Journal, is that the government lacks insight, but he added, “Once there is awareness people will be extremely afraid, as they should be.”

Last week Microsoft Corp. set up an internal AI ethics committee as part of a joint committee consisting of a larger group of tech giants working together to focus on the safe and ethical creation of intelligent robots. Created last year, that group, called Partnership on AI, includes Google Inc. DeepMind Technologies Ltd., Facebook Inc. Amazon.com Inc. and IBM Corp. Apple Inc. joined later, but Musk and his companies such as Tesla Inc. don’t seem to be part of the group.

Partnership on AI’s main tenet is to oppose any development that might breach “international conventions on human rights,” which could relate to job loss or AI employed to help with law enforcement. The group also said it was there to dispel myths surrounding AI and allay public fears. Public fears may have previously been stoked by the likes of Stephen Hawking and Oxford philosopher and technologist Nick Bostrom, who have both echoed Musk’s concerns regarding AI threatening the human race.

Image: National Governors Association via YouTube