Will AI End Humanity?

 “Will AI End Humanity?”

Annihilation Indications

Of

Artificial Intelligence

Yet

All-round Inaction

Absolutely Intriguing

AI is  God to most people, bestowing undreamt of spectacular boons and promising  new miraculous products and services like Elon Musk’s Optimus Robot that will relieve humans of the monotony and drudgery of routine and giving them free time to rejoice with marvellous intelligent gadgets, robotic friends and colleagues. Humans can now look forward to exploring new avenues of joyful living and delightfully simple and interesting ways of education and work.

In such heavenly expectant moods to use despicable words like “annihilation’ may appear scaremongering, nay blasphemous to most AI devotees. To awaken them to the realities one has to use the Hindi warning often given to a cat expecting to savour butter in an open bowl - ghee dekha magar badga nahi dekha,  i.e. you have seen the butter but not the stick in the hands of housewife.

And what’s the badga or a stick to be shown to the overoptimistic AI devotees? Loud and clear warnings from the most eminent AI experts, summarised in the following AI Overview in Google snippets. 

 Will AI End Humanity?

“It's not clear if AI will end humanity, but some experts say it's possible and others say the fears are exaggerated.

Some experts say that AI could lead to human extinction if it's used in a malicious way, such as for disinformation campaigns or autonomous weapons. Others say that AI could become concentrated in the hands of a few, allowing them to enforce values through surveillance and censorship.” 

This view is supported by hundreds of well-known people in the world of artificial intelligence who signed an open letter warning that AI could one day destroy humanity. Their one-sentence statement said:

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI

should be a global priority alongside other

societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and

nuclear war.”

The prestigious professional journal, Scientific American also reported: ”A 2023 survey of AI experts found that 36 percent fear that AI development may result in a “nuclear-level catastrophe.” Almost 28,000 people have signed an open letter written by the Future of Life Institute, including Steve Wozniak, Elon Musk, the CEOs of several AI companies and many other prominent technologists, asking for a six-month pause or a moratorium on new advanced AI development.

All-round Apathy

Eminent scientists and AI experts are worried and making herculean efforts to create awareness of the likely catastrophe. But the general public and some hyperactive ‘leaders’, who raise agitations all over the world are pursuing narrow local goals like stopping illegal immigrations, regional disparities, international trade imbalances, etc, are almost oblivious to the AI threats. 

There is an urgent need to support the scientists and well-meaning AI experts by spreading awareness about the AI catastrophe and ensuring policy measures are enacted to regulate new advanced AI projects. 

How urgent is the need for massive action? Listen to the top experts: This pace of change is why Hinton told the New York Times, “Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now. Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That’s scary.” In a mid-May Senate hearing on the potential of AI, Sam Altman, Head of Open AI, called regulation ‘crucial’.

How very farsighted and prescient in their thinking! The recent cyber-attack stories are cases in point for the urgency expressed by the two AI leaders. 

It is encouraging that the General Assembly approved the first United Nations resolution on artificial intelligence giving global support to an international effort to ensure that the powerful new technology benefits all nations, respects human rights and is “safe, secure and trustworthy”. But, such appeals are only symbolic against the catastrophic threats created by  the fantastic speed at which AI is advancing. The need of the hour is stricter regulations and punitive measures for violators and vigilant monitoring of new projects. The gains from AI are far too lucrative and over-ambitious and the greedy can only be constrained by stricter punishments.

Guarding  Individual Interests 

Job Content and Satisfaction

As individuals we can no longer restrict our role to ‘me, my job and family’ but take a broader perspective and participate in collective movements to oppose the unnihilistic developments. We must also be conscientious in job choices, refusing to work on destructive projects.

AI is advancing so fast that it can be a threat for current roles. It is to the credit of the Hollywood Writers Association that they realised how AI was harming their life and livelihood. In an interview to the media, a leader justified their 148-day strike saying, “A big concern for me is AI generating ideas and scripts, and writers only being hired for polishing and rewrites. We won't be writers anymore. It is quite depressing and scary. When you have AI creating all the material, what is to say companies will need you for those 20 weeks to just rewrite stories?” And, the writers guarded their interests in a post-strike agreement. 

Job Safety

According to career experts, there is no clear-cut list of jobs that will not be affected by AI, but the jobs in the following fields can be considered to be fairly safe from advances in AI.

• Health Care: Nurses, doctors, therapists, and counselors

• Education: Teachers, instructors, and school administrators

• Creative: Musicians, artists, writers, and journalists

• Personal Services: Hairdressers, cosmetologists, personal trainers, and coaches.

Humanity’s “Spiral of Self-destruction”

A question arises that when humans are the creators of the AI wonders why can’t they prevent total destruction? The answer is implicit in the United Nations report titled “Humanity locked in a 'spiral of self-destruction' unless we change our perception of risk”. It further highlights “some of the doom in store for humanity due to broken perceptions of risk stemming from a trio of thought mistakes: optimism, underestimation and invincibility. The report is in the context of threats from environment degradation but is equally applicable to
possible extinction threat from AI.

AI is currently doing wonders in all fields yielding benefits like saving efforts, money and time. AI is now a boon but indications are clear that it might turn into a curse due to the reasoning in the above UN report. 

A story from Indian mythology about ‘Bhasmasur’ (Ashmonster) makes this boon-to-curse phenomenon clear. The story of Bhasmasura revolves around the demon Bhasmasura who through severe penance wins the favour of Lord Shiva. He asks for a boon that whenever he puts his hand on someone’s head s/he reduces to ashes. His wish is fulfilled by Lord Shiva. Later he becomes overambitious and tries to use the boon on Lord Shiva himself. The story shows how Lord Shiva is saved by his friend Lord Vishnu who transformed himself into a charming damsel, Mohini. Bhasmasur falls for her charms and starts dancing to her tunes. In one move she puts her hands on her head and Bhamasur copies her move and is reduced to ashes. A boon is turned into a curse.

 How do you correct this  spiral of human self-destruction? Ancient rishis advocated development of viveka - often translated as “discrimination or discernment - but more specifically it is the  “ability to see things as they really are, without being clouded by illusion or ignorance”.

Finally let us all remember: Errors of Judgement Can Cause Horrors!

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