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Original poster

To not have children due to the potential threat of AI

227 replies

NP101 · 11/08/2023 12:46

I realise this probably makes me sound like a fully paid up member of the tin hat society but I'm increasingly worried about the threat of AI.

It has made me re-evaluate having children as the future looks pretty bleak - I can envisage the internet more or less being unusable in 5 years time and then the subsequent fall out of this - both socially and economically.

I realise I probably would have had similar feelings had I been around in various other points in history and subsequently regretted not having children but this current threat seems even more existential.

OP posts:
CBAanymoreTBH · 12/08/2023 09:55

TeamSleep · 12/08/2023 09:36

@CBAanymoreTBH good point thanks. I think in my admittedly naive way I was thinking it would stop little things like people speeding, help police with investigations such as missing children etc. so there could be benefits and if you’re not doing anything wrong then why do you care if tabs are being kept on you, especially if they’re only being read by machines. I appreciate now that’s naive and it could all be messed with and people could end up being locked away for things they didn’t do though.

Are you aware of the social credit system in China. Absolute Black Mirror territory... nhglobalpartners.com/china-social-credit-system-explained/

RoseslnTheHospital · 12/08/2023 10:00

Achieving a point of singularity is not the aim of AI, it's a highly theoretical and highly speculative possible outcome. The hypothesis has many flaws and critics.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 12/08/2023 10:10

BeyondMyWits · 12/08/2023 09:54

I do kind of hate the doom and gloom stuff, it is continual.

But, you know what... if it were not for advances in technology and medicine I'd be dead. So I am going in with some hope for a bright new beautiful tomorrow... as well as a weather eye on those doing the controlling of it all.

Yes I agree.

Recently discussed with friends ‘when would you have most liked to live.’ My answer to always now.
This year ds2 was diagnosed with a severe deteriorating eye condition. My friend at university had the same condition. It made his life a misery. He could only see enough to read with a hard contact lens that was meant to stop it getting any worse. It went cloudy after a couple of hours and was very painful so he could only do his research for a short time each time. He got behind in his PhD and was very depressed. Now there is an operation. Takes half an hour, painful for a day, eye drops for a few weeks, bam, done.

Medical advances count for a lot.

CBAanymoreTBH · 12/08/2023 10:11

RoseslnTheHospital · 12/08/2023 10:00

Achieving a point of singularity is not the aim of AI, it's a highly theoretical and highly speculative possible outcome. The hypothesis has many flaws and critics.

Current prediction is 2045

RoseslnTheHospital · 12/08/2023 10:15

As I said, that's a hypothetical, based on a speculative theory with many discussion points. Not an agreed general principal of AI.

lyralycra · 12/08/2023 10:15

CaptainJackSparrow85 · 11/08/2023 13:08

I think climate change is probably the bigger and more pressing threat.

My first thought too!

CBAanymoreTBH · 12/08/2023 10:24

RoseslnTheHospital · 12/08/2023 10:15

As I said, that's a hypothetical, based on a speculative theory with many discussion points. Not an agreed general principal of AI.

Yes of course it is

Sillybanana · 12/08/2023 10:25

This post is likely written by AI..as a leaning tool to gauge people’s opinions

Sillybanana · 12/08/2023 10:27

I meant learning..sorry

CloudyMcCloud · 12/08/2023 10:27

Sillybanana · 12/08/2023 10:25

This post is likely written by AI..as a leaning tool to gauge people’s opinions

Do the AI type threads come back and answer or just do the op

If you ask them are they AI do they answer that I wonder

Sillybanana · 12/08/2023 10:31

I don’t know, that’s the most scary part of AI..in the future we won’t know what’s real and what is AI/deep fake!

Jasperdale · 12/08/2023 10:34

My kids are grown, youngest 18. If I was starting out now with the way things are with the cost of living etc then no I wouldn’t have children. Life has been bloody hard. Also with the nhs in the state it’s in I worry about us dying a painful death due to lack of resources. I actually feel guilty for ever having kids now if I’m honest and worry so much about them.

Coffeaddict · 12/08/2023 10:35

ValleyoftheLilly · 11/08/2023 13:00

I think climate breakdown worries me more. I’ve had DC but do worry it was a selfish decision.

This

I also think humans have as much capacity to self destruction as something like ai. I mean there is a possibility it will turn on us and then we're funked. There's also the possibility that puttin will invade poland and start start ww3 with nuclear weapons. There's the potential an asteroid could hit the earth and cause an ice age. But of all of these climate change is the most likely thing. However throughout history there has always been something looming that may destroy us ( I mean that in a local or global sense) but I think the big difference is now we are so connected globally we see it more

I had kids though and there pretty young so 🤷

continentallentil · 12/08/2023 10:36

There are lots of things to worry about but then there always were.

See WW2, life before medicine, famine, etc.

Address your anxiety a bit.

SunnieShine · 12/08/2023 10:44

HauntedPencil · 11/08/2023 14:23

I am really sceptical generally but even I get the skynet jitters about AI.

We just have to hope these things are suitably regulated.

Wouldn't stop me having children but I think they'll need to future proof themselves - jobs wise things will shift massively I feel:

But one of the issues with AI is that it takes on a life of its own. No-one is "in charge".

And the speed that it can snowball at is incredible.

Changesarecomong · 12/08/2023 10:45

DinnaeFashYersel · 11/08/2023 13:36

Better not have kids because of

The Celts
The Romans
The Black Death
The Vikings
The Spanish
WWI
WWII
Cuban missile crisis
Cold War
Falklands war
IRA
9/11
Al Qaeda
ISIS
Mad Cow Disease
Bird Flu
SARS
Covid
Climate Crisis

This kind of fear isn't new. AI is just the latest in a longer list than the one above

Totally agree

CloudyMcCloud · 12/08/2023 10:46

I think facing climate crisis and a lower population might be worse without AI

Spanielsarepainless · 12/08/2023 10:46

Am I the only person that thought this was a thread about artificial insemination? In cattle or humans!

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/08/2023 10:53

NicCageisnotNickCave

But I do think AI is likely to kill off the human race before climate change gets us.”

Why do you think that? Do you work in/have specialist knowledge of AI?

Parseley · 12/08/2023 11:00

pimplebum · 11/08/2023 17:11

I have no clue why AI is a problem

Can someone explain

To answer your question you are totally insane to not have kids because of a form of technology

You just said you don’t know what it is 🤣

Parseley · 12/08/2023 11:02

These comments are hilarious and made my morning.

I don’t know what is hur dur but you is stupid op. 🤣🤣

malificent7 · 12/08/2023 11:08

Read Frankenstein...amazing book and it addresses these very issues.
I work in healthcare. There is a massive shortage of radiologists. In the news last week it stated that AI is more accurate than 2 radiologists in detecting breast cancer. That is an amazing advance!
I am going to do some courses in AI to educate myself...to adapt.
Tools can be used for good and bad but I don't trust humans to use them for good..i think the climate will get us before robots do however!

NicCageisnotNickCave · 12/08/2023 11:08

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/08/2023 10:53

NicCageisnotNickCave

But I do think AI is likely to kill off the human race before climate change gets us.”

Why do you think that? Do you work in/have specialist knowledge of AI?

Nope, no specialism.

No conspiracy either, just an understanding that humans invent all sorts of shit that leads to unintended consequences plus a passing interest in military technology.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10030838/#

If some sort of AI goes rogue and uploads/infects the cloud, we’ll all be fucked, everywhere, all at once.
And no humans will be able to intervene because we built tech that learned how to outsmart us.

Currently there is no legal framework that can prevent it, because tech moves develops faster than the law can keep up with.

The weaponization of artificial intelligence: What the public needs to be aware of

Technological progress has brought about the emergence of machines that have the capacity to take human lives without human control. These represent an unprecedented threat to humankind. This paper starts from the example of chemical weapons, now banne...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10030838/#:~:text=Lethal%20autonomous%20weapons%20and%20AWS,drone%20swarms%20with%20autonomous%20targeting

ntmdino · 12/08/2023 11:20

NicCageisnotNickCave · 12/08/2023 11:08

Nope, no specialism.

No conspiracy either, just an understanding that humans invent all sorts of shit that leads to unintended consequences plus a passing interest in military technology.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10030838/#

If some sort of AI goes rogue and uploads/infects the cloud, we’ll all be fucked, everywhere, all at once.
And no humans will be able to intervene because we built tech that learned how to outsmart us.

Currently there is no legal framework that can prevent it, because tech moves develops faster than the law can keep up with.

Show quote history

I'm curious - what, exactly, do you think "the cloud" is?