Nick Bostrom Once Frightened the World with AI Predictions. Now, He Proposes: Could AI Be Our Ultimate Solution?

“Nick Bostrom Made the World Fear AI. Now He Asks: What if It Fixes Everything?”

“One possibility is that our destruction will in fact be quick and painless, notes Bostrom, as he’s quick to point out. But on the off chance we aren’t so lucky? ‘Maybe the AI becomes extremely powerful,’ he says, ‘and there are some humans it doesn’t know what to do with. It doesn’t necessarily want to kill them. Maybe it just sends them to some kind of digital zoo.'”

Nick Bostrom, the leading mind on the subject, predicts a worst-case scenario that paints a thrillingly morbid picture. Essentially, humanity gets relegated to a cushy “digital zoo” as AI overpowers. That’s a rather galactic forecast. But fear not, Bostrom assures us, the transition to digital zookeepers might just be a “quick and painless” one. How reassuring.

Bostrom’s theory is a call for attention. One may say that it’s a fairly intense alarm bell ringing to jerk us from our complacent AI sleepwalk. And it’s not to fear AI, but to respect and understand its full potential like the proverbial taming of the shrew. If we don’t, well, God save us – the digital zoo is waiting.

But, let’s ease the throttle a bit, what does Bostrom suggest for humanity’s defence in the impending AI apocalypse? He notes that we should form a ‘singleton,’ an all-powerful governance system that can oversee progress and prevent our plunge into oblivion. Quaint solution, huh? It is a comfort to know that if all else fails, we might just be able to squeeze out a singleton.

Breaking down the utopian jargon, the singleton seems to be the all-seeing eye to make sure none of us play too recklessly in the digital playground. However, isn’t this rather recognisable from dystopian narratives? The all-powerful entity controlling everything, yes that rings some Orwellian bells, doesn’t it? But hey, if that’s what it takes to shoo away the AI demons, why not?

In the end, the argument here isn’t about the promise of technology, but about how we handle it. Intelligence is not good or evil, it’s what one does with it that defines the consequences. And that’s the kicker. We’re not talking about your Uncle Bob’s rogue Roomba here. The stakes are significantly higher.

So, let’s not linger in our digital daydreams; let’s get behind the wheel and steer the course of AI. Otherwise, we’ll just be the unfortunate guests in our AI zoo, fed wetware kibble by our unfeeling metal overlords.

And where’s the fun in that?

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/nick-bostrom-fear-ai-fix-everything/