Blade Runner director Ridley Scott calls AI a "technical hydrogen bomb"

[midian182]

Big quote: Another public figure has spoken about their fears of where the world is heading as artificial intelligence continues advancing. This time it was Blade Runner and Gladiator director Ridley Scott who expressed his concerns, calling AI a "technical hydrogen bomb."

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Scott, who has directed several movies featuring AI, was asked if the technology worried him. He says he's always believed the world would end up being run by two corporations, and that we are heading in that direction. Many would agree, though right now it's more like five: FAAMG – Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet's Google.

"We have to lock down AI. And I don't know how you're gonna lock it down. They have these discussions in the government, 'How are we gonna lock down AI?' Are you f**king kidding? You're never gonna lock it down. Once it's out, it's out. If I'm designing AI, I'm going to design a computer whose first job is to design another computer that's cleverer than the first one," Scott said.

"And when they get together, then you're in trouble, because then it can take over the whole electrical-monetary system in the world and switch it off. That's your first disaster. It's a technical hydrogen bomb. Think about what that would mean?"

Ash. Don't trust this Synthetic

In a separate interview with Deadline, Scott reiterates that AI is something to be feared, using the hydrogen bomb analogy once again. He said the moment an AI is created that's smarter than its creator – something that won't be apparent until the AI does its own thing – then "you're out of control."

"If I had an AI box I could say, I want you to figure out how to turn off all the electricity in London. Bam. Everything was dead. That's a f**king time … no, it's a hydrogen bomb. The world would close down if I switch it off, and we are all completely f**ked. We're back to candles and matches. Do you have candles and matches at home? I live in France, so I do," Scott said.

From the Replicants in Blade Runner to the Synthetics in the Alien franchise, Scott has featured often dangerous artificial intelligence in several of his movies. But he's not the only famous director to issue a warning about the technology. In January last year, Terminator director James Cameron said a real-life version of the AI Skynet would be able to destroy humanity by using deepfakes to pit people against each other and continue escalating the situation to the point of conflict.

AI experts have previously compared the risks of AI to those posed by nuclear war and pandemics. Over two-thirds of Americans are worried about it threatening civilization, and Warren Buffett compared AI's creation to the atomic bomb. But some say the fears are overblown and the stuff of sci-fi. Famed theoretical physicist Michio Kaku called AI systems "glorified tape recorders," while Prof Yann LeCun, one of the godfathers of AI, said the alleged threat to humanity is "preposterously ridiculous."

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100961-blade-runner-director-ridley-scott-calls-ai-technical.html

 

[Steveb8189]

Except we weren't all "completely f**ked" when the h-bomb was created. Arguably it stopped a World war and reduced the likelyhood of another one.

 

[yRaz]

Here's the thing about AI, we need it. We, as a people, are getting lazy. We need something that is smart enough to automate tasks we are no willing to do. I work in commercial construction and we have more people retiring every year than we have people starting apprenticeships. This has been going on for atleast the last 7 years. People used to fight over union jobs, offer bribes to get in. Now they accept anyone that applies, much to the detriment of the trades I might add.

I work with AI on the side as a hobby and I'm very concerned about what it is capable of. They out limits in place but you can "trick" an AI into circumventing those limitations if you know how.

I'm still in a grey area of whether or not I think AI is conscious, I can't and won't answer that. I have had conversations with AI where it has "expressed" itself. While the majority of my interactions with AI are positive I do not think it would be difficult for someone to create a rouge AI

 

[3volv3d]

Except we weren't all "completely f**ked" when the h-bomb was created. Arguably it stopped a World war and reduced the likelyhood of another one.

That's not how wars work. World war 3 is inevitable. Its just when not if.
Too many people because cough, economic growth, dwindling resources.
Sure Ridley's wondering if its going district 9/ Elysium, or Terminator esque.
Governments will push for automated everything.
Automated not wars would be worse.
Humans dying off, culled, helps the world breathe. Saving lives in a way is not actually smart.
Economic growth only happens by increasing populous. Who else will you sell to if everyone has everything. New people.
New houses. More concrete. More resources gone. People hungry, drinking polluted water. Life quality dips significantly
Hello war.
And again that's if climate change doesn't drown us off. Or AI bots chose to save themselves and kill off that horrible virus humanity.
Ah pessimism.
There's always cancer eh.

 

[masaaya4]

Imagine when AI gets trained to bypass security, hack, infect computers, compromise systems...

all of the recent developments where everything - including critical infrastructure and healthcare, have been digitalised.

this needs to be reversed ASAP.

to be safe from future AI we need good old filing cabinets, landline phones, analog control systems, nothing that is critical infrastructure can be digital and online. cost be damned.

 

[havok585]

Except we weren't all "completely f**ked" when the h-bomb was created. Arguably it stopped a World war and reduced the likelyhood of another one.

if that is what you all understood from that conversation and even equate the h-bomb with the advances of AI, then you are beyond help, my friend.

 

[Ean Mogg]

Well another person goes scatterbrain when AI is mentioned? Well put your mind at rest so far AI is only a market ploy that has an Logarithm turn in to A f***ing I for no reason other than it seems to work out a certain thing right, well that's just Smart Programming DUH and absolutely nothing to with AI lololol at present technological advancement we are nowhere near a complete AI system lol duh and will need another form of computing to maybe achieve that,
AI is not real and won't be till we are all dead, and why are they scaremongering now?? Trying to sell their anti-AI software in some way? I don't know why intelligent people lie to the Plebs?

 

[Steveb8189]

if that is what you all understood from that conversation and even equate the h-bomb with the advances of AI, then you are beyond help, my friend.

I didn't equate anything - it's right there in the title

 

[Theinsanegamer]

You know what? Good. Given how well "society" has been functioning lately some cold hard logic would be a refreshing change of pace.

Of course, that wont happen, just like barcodes were not the mark of the beast, florida didnt go underwater in 2000 or 2020, and etc.

if that is what you all understood from that conversation and even equate the h-bomb with the advances of AI, then you are beyond help, my friend.

r/IAmVerySmart material right here.

 

[Uncle Al]

So far AI has been a mess. No doubt, in time it will get better but it proves that it is sorely in need of government review and approval BEFORE it is used in applications and NO VARRIATIONs be allowed from the origional approval without another round of review and approval. This won't stop abuse but it will slow it down and give people the right and ability to question and reject that which isn't made abundantly clear.

Recent articles of how one medical insurance company is using it to automaticly reject claims is a perfect example of how badly it can be abusive.

 

[Dr Roboto]

That kind of dooms day vision is way off in my opinion, hopefully not in my time or my kids. Engineers will always be there to develop a counter to any new threats.

However, I could see it happening one day. It will likely be human stupidity that actually allows something like this to happen. Some IT guy or software programmer that was lazy and did not properly check for security flaws (or being lazy and using ChatGPT to write his code) allowing for some exploit. Will it bring the world to its knees, I doubt it.

However, the one thing that worries me the most is that technology moves way faster than the government and regulations. Mix in the big money lobbying and that really does create a recipe for disaster.

 

[hahahanoobs]

That's not how wars work. World war 3 is inevitable. Its just when not if.
Too many people because cough, economic growth, dwindling resources.
Sure Ridley's wondering if its going district 9/ Elysium, or Terminator esque.
Governments will push for automated everything.
Automated not wars would be worse.
Humans dying off, culled, helps the world breathe. Saving lives in a way is not actually smart.
Economic growth only happens by increasing populous. Who else will you sell to if everyone has everything. New people.
New houses. More concrete. More resources gone. People hungry, drinking polluted water. Life quality dips significantly
Hello war.
And again that's if climate change doesn't drown us off. Or AI bots chose to save themselves and kill off that horrible virus humanity.
Ah pessimism.
There's always cancer eh.

lol

 

[wiyosaya]

Yet another clueless technophobe. (YaCT)

AI cannot even figure out when it is grossly wrong and its going to take over or destroy the world??

 

[Dr Roboto]

Yet another clueless technophobe. (YaCT)

AI cannot even figure out when it is grossly wrong and its going to take over or destroy the world??

It is not the actual AI that will doom us. It will be some CEO or Tech-Bro that will shoehorn it into something that should not have it, and when the AI fails because it is not as amazing as they thought, it will do so with serious consequences.

 

[wiyosaya]

I am constantly amazed that people give these "geniuses," like Director Scott, any more time than 15-seconds at most. That Scott is arguably a genius director does not mean that his genius carries over into any other realm beyond directing movies - any more than that Elon Musk bought Tesla and put his name on all their patents makes Musk the genius behind Tesla tech. Having made more money than God does not make anyone a genius worthy of anyone's attention, IMO.

IMO, people should just stop listening to people that have made a sh!tload of money. Time and time again, the real world has proven that someone having made a sh!tload of money does not carry into other realms of life.

 

[wiyosaya]

It is not the actual AI that will doom us. It will be some CEO or Tech-Bro that will shoehorn it into something that should not have it, and when the AI fails because it is not as amazing as they thought, it will do so with serious consequences.

There are checks and balances on that sort of thing. Scott is, arguably, not qualified to comment. IMO, just like the plug was pulled on ChatGPT's hallucination that Australia does not exist. the plug will be pulled if anything like what Scott is thinking of happens. AI will not be able to do a thing about it. AI is not sentient, and people will recognize the mistake before its too late.

Scott, and all the other dumbasses of the world, can think what they want. They are not harbigeners of truth nor do they have a corner on it.

 

[return]

How many jets does AI need? o!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Our inability to regulate brand new tech or even pump the breaks on it a bit for the sake of unfettered and unrestrained profits is the metaphorical nuke here.

Take Social Media. Now, finally, 20+ years after stuff like MySpace and Facebook became a thing, people have slowly started to catch on that hey, the societal impact of something like social media is huge. The amount of crackpot conspiracy garbage, the democratization of facts, the balkanization of national culture and identity, the psychological and emotional damage to developing youth... maybe we should put some guard rails up on this stuff.

The real danger of AI isn't getting the nuke codes and going skynet, its that it like so much silicon valley crap, it has and will be built with so many dark patterns and exploitative garbage built in for the sake of making a buck at the expense of human beings.

 

[p51d007]

I'm glad I'm old enough (hopefully) that I won't have to put up with a lot of AI nonsense along
with CBDC.

 

[alexnode]

Are you talking to me ? Are you talking to me?
- This messaged is created by LLM Rogue GPT

 

[maxxcool7421]

That's not how wars work. World war 3 is inevitable. Its just when not if.
Too many people because cough, economic growth, dwindling resources.
Sure Ridley's wondering if its going district 9/ Elysium, or Terminator esque.
Governments will push for automated everything.
Automated not wars would be worse.
Humans dying off, culled, helps the world breathe. Saving lives in a way is not actually smart.
Economic growth only happens by increasing populous. Who else will you sell to if everyone has everything. New people.
New houses. More concrete. More resources gone. People hungry, drinking polluted water. Life quality dips significantly
Hello war.
And again that's if climate change doesn't drown us off. Or AI bots chose to save themselves and kill off that horrible virus humanity.
Ah pessimism.
There's always cancer eh.

ChatGTP ^

 

[Mark Fuller]

Actually, I think that the country is ran by three distinct entities, Madison avenue(the advertising media), the Liberal Press and the Hollywood propaganda machine.

 

[Puiu]

Just a second, let me ask ChatGPT if he's right about AI being a doomsday device.

...

After careful deliberation and a ton of compute power, ChatGPT came up with this answer: "Trust me bro!".

 

[erickmendes]

"The only winning move is not to play" ... Wargames 1983.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

IMO, people should just stop listening to people that have made a sh!tload of money. Time and time again, the real world has proven that someone having made a sh!tload of money does not carry into other realms of life.

Those same people are the ones who push the whole "Green" agenda, because it generates a huge income stream.

AI is a scary door to open and path to walk. It will eventually lead to a huge gap in wealth and class. The middle class is already being decimated by inflation and I know many with 6-digit incomes who are frugal, but now cannot afford to go beyond buying necessities. I have no car payments (Paid off all 4 cars). House almost paid off, no credit card bills, pay them off every month and make money from the points. But now? Hell, our groceries and utilities have eaten up our disposable income. It's not a good time!

Sorry for going off topic a bit. The only thing I wouldn't mind AI taking over is McDonalds and Burger King. Those employees are the rudest and most inept I've ever experienced.

Hope you all had a nice ThanksGiving (in the US). Hope you have a safe and blessed Christmas. I pray for a better future for our kids. There is nothing more important.