AI as Skynet - panic hype, or realistic warning?

 

Over the past couple of days several researchers and "experts" (?) have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) risks running out of control and threatening the very survival of humanity.  Rather than post individual links to all the articles, click over to Ted Gioia, who's summarized them all in a single Substack post.

I'm not convinced by all the hype suddenly being whipped up on this subject.  Eight warnings in 24 hours (or is it 48)?  Eight alleged experts all preaching AI doom, gloom and disaster?  The simultaneous onset of all these warnings makes me wonder about the timing.  Is someone trying to panic our politicians and/or business leaders into acting before they can figure out what might work?  "Don't just stand there, do something!" is a very time-worn statement . . . particularly when the "something" isn't clearly outlined or understood.  I'm suspicious.

On the other hand, consider all the hacking exploits, data penetrations and other cybercrimes that have been increasing in frequency for a few years now.  There's no doubt that even without AI, they're a threat to many aspects of our modern society.  Indeed, just a few weeks ago we saw that many water utilities were recently hacked, in some cases severely enough to interrupt the flow of that commodity to customers.  It's gotten bad enough that the FBI has issued a formal warning about "cyber actors" causing "operational disruptions".  In the event of a major international conflict, up to and perhaps including war, it's not hard to imagine enemy nations actively trying to attack all our utility infrastructure in the same fashion, disrupting our entire economy (not to mention our armed forces).  The more AI is used to run our economy, the more risk that "rogue AI" instructions might be fed into their systems to corrupt and disrupt their operations.

So, I think we can agree that there's a genuine risk to our automated systems . . . but is AI itself that risk, or is it merely an added element to risks of which we're already aware?

Some "AI prophets" seem to think that AI will ensure a better future for the whole world.  Elon Musk is a prime example, seeing AI as one vital future component along with space travel and other engineering challenges.  In that sense, his views are a counterweight to "AI-doom-and-gloom" predictions.

So . . . AI as threat or promise?  I don't know enough to comment, but experts seem more than willing to tell the rest of us what to believe.  What do you think, readers?  Please discuss in Comments.

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  Zero Hedge reported at noon today:  "Perfectly Timed AI Panic Resurrects 'Bipartisan AI Safety Bill'."  Click over there to read the report.  Briefly, it appears that the rush of alarmist AI reports may be a deliberately planned political pressure tactic designed to rush controversial AI legislation through Congress.  Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me.