These days, almost all of us are dealing with AI
We all talk about it, but very few of us really know what it actually is.
And that is unprecedented. With previous major inventions, such as computers, things were different. To a large extent, we knew from the beginning both the positive and the negative aspects.
In this case, however, we are blindly repeating conflicting views, ranging from the belief that AI is the greatest invention in human history to the belief that it is the worst, because it could acquire such “<a href="https://myappsplus.com/trump-announces-an-ai-czar-for-his-newly-created-super-intelligence-force/” title=”Trump announces an AI czar for his newly created 'Super Intelligence Force'”>intelligence” that it might escape human control and destroy us.
So, what is the truth?
I don’t know. The subject is far beyond my knowledge. Like many of you, I imagine, I use a basic version of ChatGPT, just as I previously used Google to find information on the Internet.
Nevertheless, I have been following the debate between the two sides of the discussion. On the one hand, there are the positive statements of leading AI researchers, who tell us that it will help us improve our lives enormously. On the other hand, there are horrific warnings that if we do not control this tremendous power—if we do not do something comparable to what we did with nuclear weapons—then the danger that it will destroy us is very great, if not inevitable.
But there are also those who consider the warnings about our destruction exaggerated, leaving those of us who are unfamiliar with this field even more confused.
Amid all this confusion, and not knowing whom to believe, I came across a statement by an old “acquaintance” of ours, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, which I would like to share with you, in case you have not heard it already.
- Kristen Welker asked last weekend on “Meet the Press” whether artificial intelligence could destroy us. Mr. Gates replied that if weaponized, AI can “drive events that cause a billion deaths.” “It’s pretty hard to get to 100%,” he said. And he added. “We have created an intelligent species that in many respects is already smarter than we are”… and it will become in a few years “insanely smarter than we are.”
- Two days later, in an interview with New York Times Mr. Gates said AI already has “the ability to empower a bioterrorist to kill hundreds of millions.” It has “the ability to do a cyberattack that scrambles all the bank accounts, shuts down the electric grid—that exists today, and we know that’s the case.”
And concluded: “This is the most dangerous thing that humans have ever gone near.”
So, then, we would do well to take the warnings about the existential risk we face seriously—very seriously—and take the necessary precautions.
Just as we would if we were smarter than AI…
