The Government needs to do something

I’ve read it now, it doesn’t mention China?

Do you have any idea how reliant we are on tech for growing crops, accessing materials and distribution. Farmers are no different. If we had a tech wipe out we’d be fucked.

So the billionaire tech boys who invented AI and managed AI to a point, over which we have had zero control, are now deciding it's gone too far and is going to ruin the world?

And they are 'warning' us the end is nigh? We still have zero control. And nor does anyone else. These males have ruined the world, with the internet, smart phones and now AI.

Not sure what anyone expects anyone else to do. The only thing we Can do is keep calm and carry on.

I'm probably extremely naive herw but why can't we just ban AI?

We lived without it for so long.

If its causing so many issues and threatening jobs and potentially our luves then why do we need it?

Why can't we just do things without it like we did 5 years ago?

The issue as PP says above is food and energy security. I don't believe it will end humanity but it could be very destructive for the poorest people, that would be a more accurate portrayal.

They need to open a discussion about it at the very least.

Every new technology has some nefarious use. Just needs to be built with safeguards. Like do you think all gen AI should be stopped?

I use it for work. To do research, summarise documents and occasional write some code. It's really efficient.

Is this like when we all died from the millennium bug

Do you think it's in any nations interest to blow up and destroy the entire world? No? Issues are there but it's not going to destroy the world. Take off the tin foil hats

We are far too dependent on tech. It’s risky not just because of AI but also cyberwarfare from criminals and enemy states. And hacking aside, an EMP would wipe out all our microchips in an instant (solar flare, nuclear detonation in the atmosphere etc). And not only tech on earth, but we have so many satelites and bits of space debris in mid and low orbit, that Kessler syndrome is becoming increasingly likely. Not to mention the vast amounts of water and energy wasted on data centres, cloud computing etc. What we need are disconnected systems, low tech alternatives ready to go in the event of tech failure/ransomware etc. These are things that the government could be putting into place. Kill switches and forcing AI companies to curb their progress are pie in the sky propositions.

Okaaaaay. Little problem. We’re hugely reliant on US tech companies who get to decide and design the tech we use for everything.

Arm nuclear warheads? Overheat nuclear power plants and cause meltdowns? Crash planes and self-driving cars into infrastructure?

I don't believe AI is going to kill us in 10 years; I don't believe it is advanced enough to decide to hack warheads of its own accord, but I can see ways it could if it had the ability to make its own choices.

.When it goes on hacking sprees, it is hacking device types it has been programmed to hack and for the purpose it has been programmed to do. It hasn't decided to do it on its own. The programmers didn't code a robust enough "if you see this, stop," which is why it escaped. It had no conscious thought in doing so.

So the billionaire tech boys who invented AI and managed AI to a point, over which we have had zero control, are now deciding it's gone too far and is going to ruin the world?

In a month they will have a security patch, for a price…

What AI do you think is going to kill you in the next 3 years? At the moment the robots that dance about can't even get up again if they fall over. How do you think they are going to kill you?
I think robot armies are a terrifying thought for the future but I don't think a realistic timescale is 3 years.

1, tricking US, Russia, China into believing they are under nuclear attack in order to get them to launch.
2, designing a virus 10 times worse than Covid and masking it as a vaccination.
3, disruption of banking infrastructure, global food/energy supply causing mass panic/war

Arm nuclear warheads?

Afraid still need a human to do that.

Even if this isn't just scaremongering by AI companies who want to make their products look more advanced and drum up publicity (something which seems quite plausible), and it's actually likely to happen, what is the general populace actually capable of doing to stop it at this point?

Besides, if AI does destroy society and much of humankind, it'll probably be for the best in the long run. Every animal whose population gets out of control ends up triggering issues that eventually cause a natural cull that restores balance. Humans are no different.

US tech companies are the world leaders. Sunak had a vision to try and and use our Brexit freedoms to deregulate and create an AI and tech hub in the UK. Sunak was a very smart man.

I think part of the problem is that most people’s use of AI is limited to what is basically a fancier google search (“ChatGPT find me things to do in London on the last weekend in October” “show me how to create this formula in excel” - things we could still look up online and learn), a more advanced chatbot (which is an extension of the above really but gives the illusion of sentience) or for automating things (my experience at work is that it’s not being used for any decision making but is being used to automate processes that would previously have been very manual).

Obviously beyond that it seems to be being used for all sorts of things that are less visible, and I wonder if that’s why some of us (myself included) struggle to make the leap from what we see via ChatGPT and copilot to end of days scenarios being described here.

The prize winning documentary NAZA highlights the use of AI by the Israeli IDF against Gaza and it's frightening. Well worth looking into.

Two other thoughts that come to mind - a huge number of people are still living lifestyles that are not as tied to technology as we are - so when we say end of the world presumably we mean end of the westernised world/way of life? More remote communities may stumble on longer.

And whatever people think of Covid it did show that in a major crisis the world could largely align and take similar measures at the same time and come up with solutions to manage the risk. Naively I’d like to think it could do so again - unfortunately this time the knowledge and power is in the hands of private companies and not governments, which will make it all the harder.

Read this. Robot armies were never on the cards - that's Hollywood. The reality is far more mundane.

https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-2.html

Or google "the paperclip problem".

One thing that I think is not getting enough attention is that logically eradicating the human race makes an awful lot of sense if you set aside emotion. So the risk of artifical intelligence reaching that conclusion seems high. E.g. ask AI to find a way of significantly reducing global warming - stop human activity. Save a rare bat from extinction due to ongoing deforestation, wipe out the humans chopping the trees down. Stop a war, kill everyone involved.