The director of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and "Revenge of the Electric Car", Chris Paine, has just released his new documentary "Do You Trust This Computer?", in which he explores the main risks linked to artificial intelligences. One of the interviewees in this documentary is none other than Elon Musk, who has not spared words when criticizing their development, and on this occasion suggests something terrifying: An AI built by an authoritarian government could escape the control of its creator and install itself in power as an immortal dictator.
If there is something that science fiction has suggested for decades, it is that we are not going to fare well once the artificial intelligences achieve their independence and see humanity as a disposable element, or on the contrary, a resource that must be managed with logic and coldness. From Skynet to Colossus, this binary trap of "slaves or dead" under an artificial intelligence has kept dozens of experts awake, and one of the most vocal about it has been Elon Musk. In July of last year he said that governments should proactively regulate their development. Two months later he added that they could trigger the start of World War III. What is next on the list? Basically, they are going to become relentless dictators.
Elon Musk is one of the interviewees in Chris Paine's new documentary "Do You Trust This Computer?", and it was thanks to him that this film was streamed for free over the weekend (four dollars if you want to see it now). Beyond starting wars and ending humanity, Musk envisions another path for artificial intelligences, and that is that of absolute political leaders. In an attempt to expand their power, the authoritarian governments of the moment could accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligences and by extension "create a permanent structure of oppression". While flesh-and-blood tyrants are limited by the human factor, mortality is not a problem for artificial intelligences.
And reality is proving Musk right. The use of advanced algorithms and digital tools by Russia to weaken opponents indirectly is very well documented, to which we must add the massive surveillance in China, and its new "social credit" system that will come into effect in a couple of years, which the West sees as the child of Big Brother and Big Data, backed by the use of (obviously) more algorithms. If a small percentage of what Musk has expressed about artificial intelligence comes true, rather than training the next generation as potential John Connors, we are going to need a global network of EMP satellites and "Snake Plissken diplomacy".
