Is humankind on the precipice of extinction? That doomsday scenario is more than just a tiny bit possible, according to an artificial intelligence expert who is sparking many media discussions across the television and radio airwaves.
Professor Geoffrey Hinton is the computer scientist considered the “godfather of artificial intelligence.” He left Google last year, in part he says, to wake up the masses about the dangers AI could potentially bring to bear on humankind.
His interview last week with BBC Newsnight lit the flame that had many American media programs covering the topic over subsequent days.
One of the biggest threats Hinton sees is that he believes most lower-level, mundane jobs will be taken over by robots and artificial intelligent beings, displacing countless employees across the world. His answer to this specific problem is for governments to institute “universal basic incomes.” In other words, pay people a set salary not to work, since their jobs will be eliminated by artificial intelligence.
This trend of using technology to fill low-skill jobs is not new, as one can see by visiting a local fast food restaurant or many other retail stores. Fewer employees, and more screens for self-checkout. And when added to the increased costs from minimum wage increases, the move to replace humans with technological solutions has become a no-brainer for entrepreneurs and business owners.
During his interview with the BBC, Hinton brought up the notion of “extinction-level threats” emerging from artificial intelligence. He also feels the speed of development and competition are getting in the way of prudent safety measures regarding new technological advancements.
“My guess is in between five and twenty years from now there’s a probability of half that we’ll have to confront the problem of AI trying to take over,” Professor Hinton told the BBC. In other words, a 50% chance humanity will have to fight AI for control. The professor also said our artificial intelligence advancements may have already crossed a rubicon, creating “a form of intelligence that is just better than biological intelligence.”
As he played out his scenario, Hinton theorized that the intelligence could eventually duplicate itself and work toward the goal of taking over control from humans.
Hinton is not alone in his concern. More than a year ago, Elon Musk and others penned an open letter urging AI labs to immediately pause training and development for at least six months due to the dire risks these advanced systems pose to humanity. Musk is often off on the timing of his predictions, but he is rarely wrong.
Some opined that Elon simply wanted to slow down his competition, giving his companies a further head start. Today, more than a year later, Musk is openly requesting at least 25% control of Tesla so he would have enough power to personally ensure the company’s AI developments are used ethically.
Many other technology bigwigs, such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, also signed on to last year’s letter.
On the heels of this recent BBC interview, some American media figures, such as Glenn Beck and Jesse Watters, also have discussed the issue.
Beck published an opinion piece on GlennBeck.com and TheBlaze.com, where he summarized his thoughts on where we stand with artificial intelligence. Of main concern for Beck is one of the proposed solutions – an immediate push for Universal Basic Income.
“I’ve been warning you about this for years,” Beck wrote. “Many conservatives at first didn’t understand why I was discussing universal basic income in connection with artificial intelligence. I don’t agree with UBI as a solution, but I understand the fear that is giving rise to the idea.”
One of Beck’s alternate solutions is that companies such as Google and ChatGPT be forced to pay consumers for their individual data, if indeed individuals choose to sell it.
Additionally, “to stop AI, you would need to kill technology – all of it,” Beck wrote. “You would have to shut down all electronics, all electricity, and then take ever single one of the silicon chips and destroy them.” A tall order, indeed.
Beck pointed out that “Hinton said we’re on a very thin edge right now and that he’s most concerned about when AI can autonomously make the decision to kill people.”
“How then should we react to this?” Beck asked as he closed his piece. “Do we want to take the 50% chance that AI will make humanity extinct? How about a 10% chance? Or even 1%? Does all the convenience that AI can offer warrant that?”
Fox News host, Jesse Watters, also discussed the issue on his program last week.
“AI is gonna take our jobs. And then it’s gonna try to kill us,” Watters said, provocatively on Wednesday evening’s Jesse Watters Primetime. “That’s not me saying that. Top AI engineers claim the new technology’s careening down a dangerous path faster than anyone imagined.”
Watters then played a clip of Professor Hinton’s interview with BBC.
“They’re clearly very competent. They clearly understand a lot. They have a lot more knowledge than any person,” Hinton said of man-made artificial intelligence. “Almost everybody I know who’s an expert on AI believes that they will exceed human intelligence. It’s just a question of when.”
Echoing what Musk and his co-signers warned of last year, Hinton said the situation could become a lot more dire than simply employees being displaced from their jobs by robots.
“What I’m most concerned about is when these things can autonomously make the decision to kill people. So, robot soldiers. And those are coming,” Hinton warned.
“I’m not sure I subscribe to the doom and gloom and the sky is falling,” cyber-security expert, Morgan Wright, told Watters. “I think what we haven’t really explored yet is, this is so new to us. We haven’t really figured out a way to harness it. But I think we will. We harnessed the atom and nuclear weapons and we were able to achieve some kind of a balance with nuclear weapons. I think we’ll do the same thing with AI, Jesse. The issue is, will we understand how to really apply it so it solves the big problems. It’s not going to take away jobs, in spite of what people think. I think what it’s going to do is open up new things for people to do.”
The AI alarmists are gaining traction, and the media is taking notice. If they are correct, the next decade will be very interesting, indeed.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
