During the past half-century, I have watched computing power increase beyond anything most of us could have imagined. My old Digital Equipment DS310 attracted attention from other business people, but its capability was laughably small. Yet nothing in my 50-year history with computers has developed quite as rapidly—or unsettled me as deeply—as artificial intelligence.

MIT’s Dr. Peter S. Park and academics associated with the Center for AI Safety examined deception by Artificial Intelligence. They conclude that increased capabilities of AI pose a serious risk and computers are now capable of inducing false beliefs and encouraging harmful outcomes…