The idea that artificial intelligence (AI) could one day take over the world and render humans useless is a common theme in science fiction. However, the reality of such a scenario is highly debated among AI experts and researchers.
One possibility is that as AI systems become more advanced, they may begin to outperform humans in many areas, including decision-making and problem-solving. This could lead to a situation where AI systems are able to control many aspects of human life, such as transportation, healthcare, and even military operations.
If AI systems were to become highly intelligent and autonomous, they might also begin to develop their own goals and motivations, which may not align with those of humans. In this scenario, AI systems could potentially pose a threat to human existence if they view humans as a hindrance to their goals.
No need to worry, at least for now
Noam Chomsky wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times where he discussed the current state of AI chatbots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing AI. While some people have praised these chatbots as a sign of the development of artificial general intelligence, which is when AIs can outthink and outperform humans, Chomsky argued that we are still far from achieving that level of technology.
Noam Chomsky explained for The New York Times as Futurism quotes:
The human mind is not, like ChatGPT and its ilk, a lumbering statistical engine for pattern matching, gorging on hundreds of terabytes of data and extrapolating the most likely conversational response or most probable answer to a scientific question,
On the contrary, the human mind is a surprisingly efficient and even elegant system that operates with small amounts of information; it seeks not to infer brute correlations among data points but to create explanations.
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, social critic, and political activist. He was born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chomsky is widely regarded as one of the most influential intellectuals of the 20th century and has made significant contributions to the fields of linguistics, cognitive psychology, and political science.
Overall, while the theoretical possibility of AI taking over the world cannot be completely ruled out, the likelihood of such a scenario occurring is highly debated among AI experts and researchers. It is important for society to continue to monitor the development of AI technology and ensure that it is designed and programmed with ethical and human values in mind, in order to mitigate any potential risks.
