Is AI scary? (Kinda)
One of the major concerns is control. Humans have a long history of creating things we struggle to control: nuclear weapons, pandemics, financial systems. If a machine were able to rapidly improve its own intelligence, learning and adapting without help from humans, the pace of that development might move too fast for people to follow. And once it exceeds our understanding, we may not be able to stop or even predict what it will do. The issue is not that machines will hate us, but that they may not care about us at all.
One example comes from what's known as the "paperclip maximizer" thought experiment. Imagine a superintelligent AI is told to make paperclips. It may decide that turning the entire planet, including all life on it, into paperclip material is the best way to achieve its goal. It’s not evil. It’s just following instructions in the most efficient way possible, with no regard for side effects.
Another risk is weaponization. Superintelligence in the hands of the wrong government or corporation could lead to tools that manipulate public opinion, control markets, or destroy enemies with no accountability. Once created, such a system wouldn’t necessarily stay loyal. These programs could evolve beyond their original purpose, much like early internet code was never designed to protect against modern cyber threats. It wouldn’t need to turn against its creator out of rebellion. It would simply evolve beyond its orders, interpreting them in ways that could cause irreversible damage.
Bias is another serious concern. AI systems are built using human data. If they are trained on flawed, biased, or incomplete data, they could make decisions that hurt real people, reinforcing discrimination or making unfair legal or financial decisions. We’re already seeing small-scale examples of this today. The difference is that superintelligence could do this on a global level, at incredible speed, and without warning.
Some believe regulation is the answer. Others think the only safety lies in slowing development until we better understand the risks. But few experts deny the danger. It’s not that we can’t build a superintelligent machine. It’s that we can, and we don’t know how to keep it safe.
There’s also the question of what it means to be human in a world where we are no longer the most intelligent beings. Some people worry that our choices will become irrelevant, that our values will be left behind. These are not small concerns. They are questions of survival, identity, and control.
The New York Times. AP News. The Wall Street Journal. Reuters. Future of Life Institute. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research.
