Attack of the 50-Foot A.I.
This personal reflection is part of a series called Turning Points, in which writers explore what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead. You can read more by visiting the Turning Points series page.
Turning Point: In an open letter, executives from the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies warn that A.I. technology poses a “risk of extinction” for humanity.
Artificial intelligence is a common bugbear in science fiction. Think of HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” for example, or Skynet in the “Terminator” films. The soulless, malevolent computer we create that, in return, destroys us. And right now, you can’t lob a digital brick without hitting half a dozen headlines about the latest trick that A.I. has pulled off. Are we conniving at our own obsolescence, and should we be stockpiling the insoluble logic problem for when our toasters and phones rise up against us?
What is A.I. exactly? There are a lot of theoretical grades of “artificial intelligence,” from a clever Excel spreadsheet to Deep Thought. What A.I. feels like right now, however, is an incredible magic buzzword you can add to any business pitch to double investor interest.
