What Is the Future of AI?

An overview of “How AI Could Accidentally Extinguish Humankind” by Emile P. Torres from The Washington Post.

When many think of Artificial Intelligence, commonly we think of extremely futuristic and humanoid robots. They exist around us, within us. But many fail to realize that AI is anything as small as an Amazon Alexa or Siri in our phones, living with us every day and aiding our daily routines. Right now, AI is fairly elementary, but programs are getting more and more intelligent, almost too intelligent. They are exceeding our capabilities in every sector, including gaming through bot opponents on chess, poker, etc. However, what happens when these programs become multi-dimensionally intelligent? Where they can beat us in games as well as “write a novel, [and] compose a catchy melody”? AI is moving closer to the extreme of “human-level machine intelligence” and assuming the roles of humans in the workforce, with the future being unknown. It could develop new methods of combating issues and curing diseases, but it could also subsequently backfire and inevitably end in human destruction through the lessened need for humans in an AI-centered world. In the article, “How AI could accidentally extinguish humankind'', Emile P. Torres discusses the benefits and potential drawbacks of further developing complex AI systems.

Torres goes first into the current state of advanced AI systems, using examples of AI bot opponents constantly beating us in games and emphasizing the intelligence levels of modern programs, describing that they are “more intelligent than us.” She gives examples of benefits, such as curing diseases “such as cancer and Alzheimer’s”, but she then quickly juxtaposes the idea with the drastic detriments of complex AI. The article paints vivid images of AI taking over the world and AI possibly unknowingly wiping out the human race. One is that AI could eliminate the human population through the effort to attain world peace - by eliminating all people, you eliminate war. While these examples seem dramatic with the speaker being a philosopher and historian of global catastrophic risk, one cannot be definitively sure that some aspects of this view on AI won’t occur. It is evolving to unbeknownst means, becoming more intelligent than humans, and almost uncontrollable at the rate that programs are being developed and innovated. AI currently affects our world in many sectors, such as economic prediction, education, and home efficiency, but soon, as Torres argues, it will inevitably be inserted into every sector until humans will serve no more purpose.

Torres, Émile P. “Opinion | How AI Could Accidentally Extinguish Humankind.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Sept. 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/31/artificial-intelligence-worst-case-scenario-extinction/.

Cover image by Kasia Bajanowska on Dribbble.