The singularity, according to a former Google executive, is approaching. Furthermore, he claims that it presents a serious threat to mankind.
In a new interview with The , Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer of Google’s moonshot division, which was known at the time as Google X, delivered his warning. In it, he stated that artificial general intelligence (AGI), the type of all-powerful, sentient AI portrayed in science fiction like Skynet from “The Terminator,” is unavoidable — and that once it arrives, humanity may very well face an apocalypse brought on by godlike machines.
Scared Straight
Gawdat told The New York Times that he got his terrifying realization while working with Google X AI developers on robot arms that could detect and pick up a tiny ball. Gawdat claimed that after a period of poor development, one arm seized the ball and held it up to the researchers in a gesture that he perceived as boastful.
“And then it dawned on me that this is very dangerous,” Gawdat added. “I was utterly paralyzed.”
“The fact is,” he said, “we’re in the process of making God.”
Real Threats
In the IT industry, there’s no lack of AI doomsayers – Elon Musk, for example, has frequently warned the globe about the perils of AI one day overtaking mankind. However, such a theoretical approach obscures the concrete dangers and damages associated with the AI we’ve already created.
Facial recognition and predictive police algorithms, for example, have caused significant harm in underprivileged populations. Numerous algorithms continue to perpetuate and codify institutional racism on a global scale. Those are issues that can be addressed by monitoring and legislation, but you wouldn’t know it if you conceive of AI growth as the birth of an angry deity, as Gawdat does.
