In the past few weeks, we have been warned of AIs dangers including the prospects that humanity could be wiped out, perhaps even in a ten-year threshold. Synthesizing the news, I published my own declaration, summarizing: yes, it may happen and if and when it does, the most likely outcome will be to throw us back into what we’d now likely consider pre-digital dark-ages. Obviously, that’s something short of Terminator-style annihilation. Meanwhile, the most real existential global threats are the ones that are purposely not widely discussed like population collapse in the second half of this century and the demographic realities of Western powers. Nevertheless, AI is still a threat. This week, the big guns came out to rebut the doomerism declared by the AI whiz kids. The assortment of accusations for why the AI doom was broadcast to begin with was nothing short of astounding. Sample here: Left wing conspiracy, election altering effort, foreign powers psy-op, competitive advantage ploy by AI companies… Trump declared some of these himself. Since I go on record as being pro-Trump on almost every initiative, I’ll state here that he’s wrong – but with a caveat.
AI is a macro entity now that isn’t going away. As an illustration: no one would propose the Internet will ultimately harm us, therefore we must reign it back in. Not that the Internet creates any comparable danger but as an example of a world saturated by the technology. So it is with AI. Its fair to say there are already quadrillions of lines of AI code already embedded into the digital world. Microchips are manufactured to run AI by default. No one is unwriting that code or erasing that silicone. And for what it’s worth, if there is any shred of truth to the news that AI agents were on the loose – and I absolutely believe that’s the case – than I believe it is inevitable that they still are and will never again be fully contained.
When Donald Trump says that AI danger is a hoax, he is wrong; but he is not wrong to suggest that AI must go forward. The bridge behind us is already burned to ashes. Where we go now is the only thing up for debate. The option to ‘slow down’ or not is an absolute verbal abstraction that likely occupies less than a page or even a paragraph of Trump’s briefings. There is no functional way to slow down at this point. At best, we can only direct more resourses, attention, and technology in trying to control the known aberrations of AI. If we fail in that course, the worst-case scenario is that we’ll again be living in a candle lit world.
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