Artificial Intelligence — A Savior or A Tormentor
We are all familiar with Artificial Intelligence or AI in some way or the other. Some find it scary, and some find it interesting. We have all wondered about AI at least once in our lifetime.
“Is AI good for us?”
“Is AI a friend or a foe?”
“Should we rely on AI?”
Well, here I am to talk about all this…
In 2017, Facebook was working on a highly intelligent AI chat-bot whose purpose was to talk to and realistically negotiate with humans. So an engineer had this bright idea to make two chatbots talk to each other and learn how to communicate. But something bizarre happened, the two AIs invented their language which us humans can’t understand. Here’s a snippet of what the two AIs (Bob and Alice) said
Bob: i can i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to
Bob: you i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me
Bob: i i can i i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me
Bob: i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to
Bob: you i i i i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alice: balls have 0 to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to
Bob: you i i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me toNo one had a clue what these two AIs were talking about, but these two did. So Facebook had to shut their research further.
There are a lot of these scary and creepy things happening around now and then related to AI.

We don’t realize that the growth of AI is sky-rocketing. As we continue to advance AI technology and push the boundaries further and further, what would happen if they do get self-aware? Sentient Beings that are more intelligent than humans, could AI take over the world? Most of us are completely unaware of the phenomenal rate our AI systems have improved over the past five years. Knowingly/Unknowingly we all use AI every single day. Be it the virtual assistant like the Google Assistant, Siri or Alexa, or be it your youtube, Amazon, Netflix recommendations. These are all AI-based, This is called Machine Learning.
But is AI smarter than Humans? Well. It isn’t more intelligent than us YET. Moore’s Law states that every year the number of transistors in CPUs will double and this has held true every single year since its theorization. Some futurists predict that the advent of superhuman artificial intelligence could happen anytime within the next 50 years. Some of the intelligent individuals in the world have repeatedly warned us that this sentient being could be the most dangerous thing humans ever build and our biggest threat.
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” ~ Stephen Hawking
“At least when there’s an evil dictator, that human is going to die. But for an AI, there would be no death. It would live forever. And then you’d have an immortal dictator from which we can never escape.” ~Elon Musk
Some call it the last invention we will ever make.
What if we do get it all wrong out of what we expect, then there will be a final WAR. A war that we CANNOT win Because it will be so many magnitudes more intelligent than the entire human race. Any schemes/plans we come up with, the AI would have thought about it well in advance. It would be similar to how ants would attempt to wage war on humans. From our perspective, we believe that we are more intelligent than the other species living on the Earth. But in reality, we are just fractionally smarter than the other species. But that tiny fraction has allowed to us to develop language, civilization and what not! If we plot the intelligence of every species on our planet on a scale of 1 to 1000, Say mice are at 1, then chimpanzees will be at 4, and dolphins are at 8. On this scale, humans would place on a total of 10! Whereas, a superhuman AI would be effortlessly at a 1000+! Our brains are confined in our skulls (with a limited room of neurons), but to an AI there is no such limit.
The very moment in time where we create such a superintelligent AI that can rewrite its software, make better hardware for itself(which we cannot fathom) and become just 1% more intelligent than humans has a name. This theoretical event is called the SINGULARITY. Such an AI is called Artificial General Intelligence. The AIs we have created to date are all Artificial Narrow Intelligence or weak AI (since it only operates within specific boundaries). But a general AI will be essentially creating a new being, creating new life. Our current technology is not capable of achieving singularity, but in 10 years, we could be there due to the exponential growth in inventions.
What would happen if we do achieve Singularity?
Well, one of two extremes will happen. Either the humans will go extinct or become immortal. While creating an AI, we are essentially creating a GOD! And we can’t know if it will be a kind God or an evil God until its too late, because our brains cannot fathom what the AI’s (a being of superhuman intelligence) interests would be. Maybe its hopes, desires, morals, ethics, motives could be entirely different from ours. The problem is that there isn’t any guarantee that AIs and we would have a similar way of thinking.
Scenario 1: The Extinction Of The Human Race
Evolution has taught us one thing that a species would do whatever it can in its power to survive and reproduce. There’s no reason why the AI should be any different. Our planet contains limited resources. And if the AI thinks that we are just wasting the precious resources, which it could use/ could have used. It will terminate us all! The only reason that humans are civil to other humans is that they view each other as intelligent beings. It is easy to kill a fly whereas one could see others petting even a street dog, This is because dogs are more intelligent than flies. And for some particular reason, we believe that that specific species’ life is worth more than the others due to its intelligence, This is called Humanization, and it is an ability that psychopaths don’t possess. The AI would be so much smarter than us that by the same logic it can dehumanize us without a hitch, similar to how we look at a fly or an ant! This plot would erase any moral guilt that they could potentially have about committing genocide. And thinking about how the AI could wipe us all would be a scheme so multiplex that we would never be able to deduce it until it happens. It could bring about the extinction of the human race in ways we don’t even know exists.
Scenario 2: The Immortalization Of The Human Race
Now let us talk about the more joyful and cheerful side of the situation, implying that our AI God is benevolent and merciful. Once the AI gets into this stage, Our overlord could easily solve all of our problems. It would have a solution on how to eradicate World Hunger, Unemployment, Overpopulation, and what not! It could effortlessly devise methods to cure illnesses like cancer, AIDS, etc. Such an intelligent would know how to manipulate(modify, assemble, disassemble) particles and atoms. It could then make ANYTHING( I am not exaggerating)! If we ask it to build it a machine to space travel or to construct a time machine, then it would! It would map the most stable political networks. It would provide us with better transportation. It could convert anything to make it something we desire, like garbage into apples. Creation of an anti-aging machine,i.e., immortality, would not be a big deal for it. It could create us into software, i.e., an AI itself. Any science fiction would be a reality!
Conclusion
In the next fifty to one hundred years (or sooner), we would be into one of the two situations. It could either go into a thrilling or a petrifying future, but it would undoubtedly be our last invention. Should we let singularity to happen? No one can answer this question unbiasedly because everyone has different opinions.
“AI would be a great slave but a bad master.”
Thanks for reading.
Sources: youtube.com, independent.co.uk