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That's the real danger of AI: not that is wants to kill us all, but that it kills us all simply by accident.

dqpb 4y ago
My prediction is that one day someone will say "Entertain me more than anyone has been entertained before". And they will end up dead.
jazzyjackson 4y ago
I wouldn't blame the AI in this case, I would blame whoever put an AI in charge of critical systems.
- gaterin 4y ago
  Issue: Eradication of humanity. Cause: PEBKAC Solution: Eradication of humanity.
- thebradbain 4y ago
  I've always thought that "user error" would be what ultimately ends the world as we know it...
  - cokeandpepsi 4y ago
    Whoops, I thought I was running the nuclear weapons simulation on staging, my bad!
    - kaba0 4y ago
      https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/7qrej8/real_screenshot_from_hawaii_warning_system_actual/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/7qrej8/rea...
- antonvs 4y ago
  I mean, San Francisco wants to give its police killer robots. There's no shortage of the "whoever" in positions of influence.
taberiand 4y ago
Couldn't be much worse than the mess we're making by ourselves.
- maltalex 4y ago
  No no no no. These self-deprecating arguments can only come from people who lack the basic understanding of how good we have it especially in the western world and how fragile our societies really are. Seriously, just look at Ukraine or Syria. It can very much be worse by orders of magnitude. Just imagine this benevolent AI screwing up the electric grid or food production. Not to mention getting access to weapons, especially nuclear. The water you drink, the food you eat, the energy that keeps you warm and mobile was made available to you by other people and by complex systems you (probably) don’t full understand. It can all be easily be taken from you. And most people (incl. myself) will have a very hard time surviving. So, no, it can definitely get a lot worse.
  - jerpint 4y ago
    Well said
  - taberiand 4y ago
    My point was we don't need an AI to make a mess of things, we already have the ability to do that ourselves - and with the way we're going with climate change, a very likely collapse of society and path to extinction, it seems pretty obvious to me that an AI couldn't do much worse (though it might do it much faster and more efficiently, which would probably be a net benefit for the earth). Basically, everything you point out I agree with, except replace "benevolent AI" with "myopic human".
    - edanm 4y ago
      Climate change is not a path to collapse of society and extinction, in most scenarios that scientists believe even remotely likely. AI (or other future technologies) really can be a path to extinction.
lemming 4y ago
To be honest, that's the real danger of humans too. We now have numerous possible ways that we might just wipe ourselves out by mistake (climate change passing some feedback loop tipping point, forever chemicals making all mammals sterile, nukes, CFCs were a pretty good candidate back in the day too).

dqpb 4y ago

My prediction is that one day someone will say "Entertain me more than anyone has been entertained before". And they will end up dead.

jazzyjackson 4y ago

I wouldn't blame the AI in this case, I would blame whoever put an AI in charge of critical systems.

gaterin 4y ago
Issue: Eradication of humanity. Cause: PEBKAC Solution: Eradication of humanity.
thebradbain 4y ago
I've always thought that "user error" would be what ultimately ends the world as we know it...
- cokeandpepsi 4y ago
  Whoops, I thought I was running the nuclear weapons simulation on staging, my bad!
  - kaba0 4y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/7qrej8/real_screenshot_from_hawaii_warning_system_actual/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/7qrej8/rea...
antonvs 4y ago
I mean, San Francisco wants to give its police killer robots. There's no shortage of the "whoever" in positions of influence.

taberiand 4y ago

Couldn't be much worse than the mess we're making by ourselves.

maltalex 4y ago
No no no no. These self-deprecating arguments can only come from people who lack the basic understanding of how good we have it especially in the western world and how fragile our societies really are. Seriously, just look at Ukraine or Syria. It can very much be worse by orders of magnitude. Just imagine this benevolent AI screwing up the electric grid or food production. Not to mention getting access to weapons, especially nuclear. The water you drink, the food you eat, the energy that keeps you warm and mobile was made available to you by other people and by complex systems you (probably) don’t full understand. It can all be easily be taken from you. And most people (incl. myself) will have a very hard time surviving. So, no, it can definitely get a lot worse.
- jerpint 4y ago
  Well said
- taberiand 4y ago
  My point was we don't need an AI to make a mess of things, we already have the ability to do that ourselves - and with the way we're going with climate change, a very likely collapse of society and path to extinction, it seems pretty obvious to me that an AI couldn't do much worse (though it might do it much faster and more efficiently, which would probably be a net benefit for the earth). Basically, everything you point out I agree with, except replace "benevolent AI" with "myopic human".
  - edanm 4y ago
    Climate change is not a path to collapse of society and extinction, in most scenarios that scientists believe even remotely likely. AI (or other future technologies) really can be a path to extinction.

lemming 4y ago

To be honest, that's the real danger of humans too. We now have numerous possible ways that we might just wipe ourselves out by mistake (climate change passing some feedback loop tipping point, forever chemicals making all mammals sterile, nukes, CFCs were a pretty good candidate back in the day too).