Forget killer cyborgs; lunatic AIs like Hal 2000 and merciless Terminators. The greatest threats to humans aren't machines or superintelligences.

It's humans themselves, according to renowned British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Humans will likely destroy themselves by polluting the planet to such an extent man-made climate change becomes irreversible, he said. If not, the human fascination with advancing research into artificial intelligence (AI) will likely do him in in the future.

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Hawking revealed his thoughts on a number of fascinating subjects during a lively video interview with popular American talk show host Larry King.

Reminded by King of an interview six years ago in which Hawking said, "Mankind is in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity," King asked Hawking what's changed since then.

"We have certainly not become less greedy or less stupid," replied Hawking.

"Six years ago, I was warning about pollution and overcrowding. They have gotten worse since then."

"The population has grown by half a billion since our last interview, with no end in sight. At this rate, it will be eleven billion by 2100. Air pollution has increased by eight percent over the past five years. More than 80 percent of inhabitants of urban areas are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution," said Hawking.

Asked about how seriously governments are taking the dangers posed by AI, Hawking replied:

"Governments seem to be engaged in an AI arms race, designing planes and weapons with intelligent technologies. The funding for projects directly beneficial to the human race such as improved medical screening seems a somewhat lower priority," he said.

"Artificial intelligence has the potential to evolve faster than the human race. Beneficially AI could co-exist with humans," but there must be a line drawn.

"Once machines reach the critical stage of being able to evolve themselves, we cannot predict whether their goals will be the same as ours."

But when asked what the biggest problem facing the world is, Hawking answered climate change and wondered aloud if we're are past the point of no return.

"The increase in air pollution and the emission of increasing levels of carbon dioxide (are our biggest problems). Will we be too late to avoid dangerous levels of global warming?" he asked.

King's interview with Hawking can be viewed on YouTube here.

TagsStephen Hawkin, Larry King, Artificial Intelligence, Pollution