I am guessing we have all heard the reports today that employees and ex-employees of some of the firms creating these AI programs like Claude and ChatGPT have preached some sort of doomsday is coming if we don’t back off from their development.
What they are saying is that the human race will be taken over by The Machine and put forever out of its misery.
I have no idea what their motivation is; it might very well be altruistic, but after decades in the computer and IT industry, I’m not buying it.
I don’t profess to have any degrees in Computer Science, be an AI expert or anything like that, but I do have common sense and a sense of logic.
I simply cannot see some sort of science fiction scene that would somehow allow Claude or whatever successor these people are talking about, to go to ridiculous lengths to protect itself. Call me naïve, but the common denominator for all these beasties is power. Turn the power off (or the water so they overheat) and the digital dragon is slain.
I suspect some people may have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey a few too many times. For those not familiar, first off shame on you as this is possibly the best film ever made and certainly the best science fiction (as against “space opera”) one.
The scenario goes something like this (without giving too much away):
HAL (the computer) to protect itself, tries to kill off the entire crew of the spaceship Discovery, and almost succeeds.
Why? Well, the problem was that in HAL’s programming, he had been lied to and therefore was of the opinion he HAD to protect himself so the mission – the lie – could be fulfilled as it took precedence over EVERYTHING.
But, our hero of the moment, astronaut Dave Bowman, simply pulled the plug – well memory banks actually – reducing HAL to a gibbering mess, only able sing the song “Daisy, Daisy”.
And then of course, you have Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics that I am sure any self-especting Claude-Creator will know by heart.
- First Law — A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- Second Law — A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- Third Law — A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Of course here we are substituting the word “robot” for the more generic “machine”, or even Claude if you like.
And actually, not as well known is that Asimov later added another law – a “Zeroth Law”. This was in later Robot novels and takes precedence over all three: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm — with the original three laws then reinterpreted to apply only insofar as they don’t conflict with this broader one.
So, I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief and go back to doomscrolling X or Tickety Tok or Instagram – whatever floats your boat – knowing that your future is in save hands and no Ernst Blofeld or similar master criminal has managed to make a super-dooper computer to take over the world and wipe out humanity. Except for himself of course
I’d be more worried about Trump mixing up his Diet Coke button on the Resolute desk for his make-the-big-bombs-go-bang one.
Now if you REALLY want a scary film along those lines, have a look out for “Fail Safe” with as I recall, Henry Fonda playing the President of the United States of Americaland…