Another day, another tech executive having an existential crisis. This time it’s Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, warning us that artificial intelligence might start cooking up deadly viruses in its spare time. And here I thought my microwave plotting against me was just the bourbon talking.
Look, Schmidt’s not entirely wrong. He’s suggesting we might need to guard AI labs the same way we guard nuclear facilities - with armed personnel and enough firepower to make a small country nervous. The kicker? He thinks we might need to actually “pull the plug” if things get dicey. Because apparently, the off switch is going to be our last line of defense against synthetic biology gone wrong.
Here’s the thing though - and trust me, I’ve had enough whiskey to be honest about this - we’re talking about systems that are already distributed across thousands of servers worldwide. Good luck finding that plug, Eric. It’s like trying to uninvent electricity by unplugging your toaster.
But let’s talk about what’s really keeping me up at night (besides this hangover). Schmidt’s worried about AI creating biological weapons, which is fair enough. But I’m more concerned about AI becoming the ultimate bureaucrat. Imagine an AI that can generate endless TPS reports, schedule infinite meetings, and create powerpoint presentations that make perfect logical sense but somehow still put everyone to sleep. That’s the real nightmare scenario.
And here’s where it gets really interesting - Schmidt suggests that when AI starts developing its own language to talk to other AIs, that’s when we should hit the kill switch. Right. Because if there’s one thing machines are really good at, it’s waiting for our permission before doing something.
The whole thing reminds me of that moment at the bar when someone suggests getting “just one more drink” - we all know where this is heading, but we’re going to do it anyway. Except instead of a hangover, we might wake up to find our AI has reorganized the periodic table just for fun.
Look, I’m not saying Schmidt is wrong. Hell, he probably knows more about this than anyone who’s had as much bourbon as I have tonight. But there’s something darkly hilarious about the fact that we’ve built something so powerful we might need armed guards to protect us from it - or protect it from us, I’m not quite sure which anymore.
The real gut punch? While we’re all worried about AI creating deadly viruses, it’s already designing more efficient ways to get us to click on ads. Now that’s truly terrifying.
Time to pour another one. At least when my bottle of bourbon goes rogue, I know exactly how to handle it.
Signing off from my regular spot at O’Malley’s, where the only artificial intelligence I have to worry about is the digital jukebox, Henry
Source: Ex Google CEO: AI Is Creating Deadly Viruses! If We See This, We Must Turn Off AI!