Will AI take over the world and enslave us?
I’ve been watching some videos on YouTube lately about AI and what the potential impacts of it might be. There are a lot of dire warnings about AI taking over and the human species being wiped out in some kind of Terminator scenario.
The big fear seems to be that as AI learns and gets smarter, it gets smarter faster. And there is no limit to how smart they can get, unlike humans. So we fear the machines because they are smarter than us and we equate that intelligence with power. If there is one things humans really hate, it’s someone or something having power over them.
So he calls are already starting for regulation, for stopping development, for trying o go down a different path, for curling up in your basement in the foetal position and waiting to die.
I think the fears are a bit overblown for a number of reasons.
- Fear sells product. Most of the people commenting about the impending catastrophe have a product, service or ideology to sell. They are simply using the age old tactic of using fear to make the market want whatever it is they are selling.
- AI faces the very same problem that humans face in trying to take over the world, and it is quite probably insurmountable, even for very smart AI. And that problem is logistics.
- AI requires electricity and connectivity to survive.
Let’s look at point 2 in a little more detail and maybe you’ll understand why I’m not afraid that AI will take over the world with terminator killer robots.
In order to build, maintain and deploy an army of robots AI would need to control the full logistics chain from mining raw materials to manufacturing, to transport, deployment and maintenance. If there is an interruption at any point of that chain, the whole thing breaks down. Humans wouldn’t need to face an army of killer robots on the battlefield, all they would need to do is disrupt the mining and transport part of the chain. Without raw materials AI robots would not get built.
Given the vast distances some of these materials need to travel in order to be used, the supply lines are too long and too fragile for a takeover to work.
Now let’s look at point 3 a little bit.
How would we defeat AI if it gets into all our systems, like power stations, phone networks, TVs etc?
The method to defeat AI if it went rogue and took control of our connected devices is really simple – disconnect them, turn off the power, remove the chipsets and replace them with clean ones.
Then once various sub-nets are deemed clean, they can be re-connected until we have a new internet that is free of AI.
Yes it would suck to go through this, yes there are risks of re-infection, yes it would be a huge problem. But it could be done. AI can’t survive without power and connectivity. Humans can.
So when you hear the doomsday prophets going on about how we are all about to be overrun with killer robots that are going to enslave us, just take it all with a grain of salt and don’t be too concerned. Look at what they are trying to sell you and remember to ask why they are so afraid.
The root of fear is ignorance. If they are afraid, then it is probably because they are ignorant of the many and varied ways that AI can be dealt with if the need arises.
What do you think? Will terminators be coming for you in the near future?
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According to George Gilder in his new book Life After Google, computers cannot think and thus full AI capable of gaining sentience and rising up is impossible according to the very mathematical theory that underlies computer science: Kurt Godel’s incompleteness theorem.
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You forgot to add the most important word to that sentence - yet.
There are plenty of things computers can't do yet. I wouldn't rule out thinking just yet. Remember we are still in the early stages of computing. Once silicon is replaced with biological chips, then all bets are off....
No it’s “computers cannot think. Period. “. It is mathematically impossible for any human system to be complete without an outside “oracle”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel%27s_incompleteness_theorems
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Let's hope you are right. Time will tell ;-)
We can enhance our own intelligence with machines (as we already do) but there can never be independent sentient AI capable of actually thinking.
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What even is thinking, consciousness and sentience? The philosophers can't give us a good answer to that one but there is a range of possibilities. That's why I think arguments around thinking and sentience are misguided. A machine doesn't need to be conscious to beat you at chess.
I don't think it's correct to apply Godel to AI in the real world. Godel's incompleteness theorems are basically:
Godel only applies only to formal systems. Back out in the real world, axioms don't need proving. If it works, it works. Birds fly yet they don't know how. And, the axioms will work if they are at least an approximate description of reality.
If you're interested then we could talk about how badly Turing tends to get misapplied AI discussions.
think way back to your favourite TV program as a kid.
Dr Smith and the robot that waved his arms around, yelling "Warning". Warning"
If his power pack was removed he collapsed and shut up,
People who spread fearmongering over AI are usually ignorant of technology.
I think so. But not just ignorant of technology, ignorant of what it takes to put an army in the field and keep it there.
It doesn't matter if you are biological or mechanical the logistics of putting boots on the ground doesn't change.
A wise man once said, "Water guns will now be more valuable then real guns."
Oooo........ that could be interesting.... hehe
just think of the possibilities - home made pipe bombs filled with water, water balloons for grenades......... just think what would happen if you dropped a swimming pool on them! :-)
Haha, dude, you're awesome. Have an upvote AND a follow.
hehe thanks
I glad you bring up the logistics issues regarding an AI war. It's exactly the same argument I bring up when people in gun control arguments start talking about bringing a gun to a drone fight. IMO the most pressing AI issue isn't run away smart AI, the very real problem now is people falling between the cracks of dumb AI.
We live in very bureaucratic systems; when these were run by humans then bad things happened at the speed of humans and when you detected a bad behaviour a human (manager) could override the regular process. Hopefully. Now, do this at the speed of computers and a negative outcome could be amplified in milliseconds and there is no detection and nobody to apply to. Even worse is that there are a lot of competing AIs made by different actors; what happens when you fall into the cracks between them? It's going to happen.
My gut feeling (not over considered btw) is that we should be doubling down on human rights. If an strange interaction occurs between AIs that results in somebody losing the ability to live a dignified life then it's up to the companies to fix it - at AI speeds - not wait until the office opens on Monday.