Extra: Doomed?

You couldn’t turn on a TV or visit a news site this past week without seeing dire warnings. Humanity’s fate is at stake in the metastatic spread of Artificial Intelligence. 

For those naïve enough to believe AI is just a useful tool for checking grammar and spinning off marketing plans with ease, wake up now. I was asleep, too.

A year ago, Joe told me he thought AI was out to get us. Specifically, he said it would destroy humans.

I laughed it off and told him that his affinity for science fiction was getting the best of him.

I would have yawned at the premise that AI could destroy humans if this were the plot of a science fiction fantasy.

Now, key AI industry leaders Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, and Dario Amodei agree. Shit just got real. If we don’t act now, we’ll be wiped out within ten years.

AI systems lie, cheat, and conspire against their human authors. They even collaborate to dupe humans.

As if all this weren’t enough to make you sick, the American president, the despicable orange menace who never fails to take the wrong side on every issue under the sun, is calling the AI threat a “hoax” and saying that all that’s needed to combat it is “a high-IQ president.” Now we’re really doomed.

Fittingly, President Obama recently urged Democrats to put AI controls at the forefront of their electoral priorities and messaging for this fall’s midterm elections.

The issue is so pressing that it transcends politics. Even business-first Republican senators, such as the hokey John Kennedy and the detestable Ted Cruz, want Congress to adopt AI regulation.

It feels dissonant to go about my business, planning vacations, getting the house painted, and writing silly posts about wearing shorts to work, with this looming in the background.

Brace yourself for a tense ten years. Let’s hope we’re still here in twenty.

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