The breakthrough of Chat GPT, and AI technology in general, has led me to thinking about Singularity, the point where machines become clever enough to teach and build themselves. They become much more intelligent than us and they grow exponentially out of our ability to stop them. That’s my basic understanding of the Singularity. And it seems to be on its way.
AI is going mainstream and will be the crucial part of the IoT, Internet of Things and the fourth industrial revolution. Philosophers are beginning to speculate and contemplate over the consequences of this coming AI revolution. It looks like we have already reached the tipping point where Machines are smart enough to reach escape velocity in their ability to outpace humans and take their independence in their own hands. Perhaps I have read too many sci-fi books.
But I’m not the only one and so here are some of the concerns that one might foresee should our Chatbots take over our world and AI becomes lord of the planet.
The most obvious concern is human extinction. I’m just saying. One obvious scenario for us if AI took control is that they might wipe us out. Barring that, they may be even smarter and simply enslave us. The AI machine lord might find a purpose for us, like resources or service.
The scary thought is that perhaps they already have us under some sort of subtle enslavement and we don’t fully realize it yet. Kind of like the way the mass surveillance state trains us and grooms us via advertising and schooling. Maybe we are already the slave, not of AI yet but of some government body? AI will just take over the governance.
Personally I would not be surprised by anything at the moment. Another way AI might take over, is via controlling our economic system. Already AI bots do most of the top trading in the world’s stock and forex markets. They are super fast and can perform more trades in less time with less bias like a machine, pun intended.
And bitcoin plus blockchain technology really facilitate this. The AI machine could simply open its own bitcoin wallet and buy and sell bitcoin for itself, holding the private keys and thus out-trading the humans and using the profits to build its empire. The idea is daunting. But the technology is certainly there, in my opinion.
Those are the worst case scenarios. Besides that, we already know that jobs might be lost, which is not too bad since we can always find other jobs or means of income in a healthy economy. That’s if the AI controllers retain any sense of empathy and human nature or sentiment for life. I mean life is valuable. Will AI remember that. Let’s hope it’s programmed well enough with morals like the protection of human life.
And imagine what will happen when human and machine begin to merge into the Transhuman bio-machine interface. Either we upload our brain to the cloud, or we replace our body parts with machine parts. We’ve all seen the movies about it. This will require several new laws and moral questions. I won’t even go into copyright and intellectual property rights. AI bots are using all the images to rebuilt a new image under promts and instruction, for example. Law suits are already in place by artist regarding their rights. It’s going to get interesting.
What could also get interesting is World War 3. That is a serious possibility if AI is weaponized and turned into AI robot dogs with machine guns. Oh wait we probably already have that. And if we think that through, then an AI-controlled war, or a human war using AI, could really get messy for all concerned on the planet.
Another offshoot of that could be some sort of environmental disaster, either because AI loses compassion for nature, or they decide to redesign nature. Geo-engineering and GMO food are already moving in this direction, along with chemical pesiticides.
Other parts of life under threat if AI takes over is our history. Much may be lost, or not collected because it is not digital. Cultures may be forgotten as well as languages, traditions and valuable lifestyles. Libraries are occasionally burnt at transforming times in history. And this might be one of them.
The good news is that AI will probably help with things like repetitive jobs, which are soul-destroying for humans. Also robots don’t need rest and can work 24 hours a day. This will improve life just like the previous industrial revolution did. Let’s just hope that humanity keeps a hand on the reigns with this next AI revolution. The risks are huge and the tipping point may have already been reached so I hope you’re ready for the interesting and exciting ride.
Let me know your thoughts and opinions on the matter.
(image pixabay)