Letters

Will AI wipe us all out?

Letter from Bob Edwards, Harlow

I have always been a lover of Charles Darwin and his evolutionary theories, which are both very dialectical and scientifically pleasing. But he didn’t just postulate the theory of evolution, that a species would develop and evolve, continuing to improve and adapt, but also those that are unable to cope would go extinct. Today there are many species teetering on the edge of extinction, and they may not long continue.

I also read that Darwin also suggested that if any species became an overwhelming threat to others on a large scale, then a new species would evolve to wipe it out. I even wondered, given that human beings were becoming too dangerous, that Covid had evolved to check humankind! But no, science developed a vaccine in time.

But now I wonder if Darwin’s prediction is surfacing again. Is humankind about to self-destruct, not, as I once feared, through nuclear war, which, after all, could destroy all human beings, but through Artificial Intelligence. If AI is as powerful as is claimed, it might be humanity’s biggest threat. Could it develop a means of wiping out human beings, without wiping out itself? What do comrades think?

I know that some have said we have only ten years. Could AI be the cause of our self-destruction? I fear the worst, because the world is in such a mess. Let’s face it, we’re led by people like Putin, Trump and Xi who are totally dangerous.

[Feature picture from Wikimedia Commons, here]

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