The Next War May Have Already Started

 

by Pa Rock

Conspiracy Theorist

In the early hours of yesterday morning, well before daylight, a 20-year-old male tossed a lit molotov cocktail at the San Francisco home of Open AI CEO Sam Altman, reportedly causing some damage to a gate before the fire was extinguished.  Police recognized the firebomber from a surveillance photo and later located and arrested him in the city where he was threatening to burn Open AI's headquarters.   Case closed . . . or is it?

Altman, himself a relatively young man at the age of forty-one, is, according to one internet bio, a technology entrepreneur, investor, and executive.   He has a strong background in computer engineering and has been writing computer code since he was a child.  He also majored in computer science at Stanford for two years before dropping out to form his own computer-related start-up company.

Altman's current gig at CEO of Open AI puts him right at the heart of the Artificial Intelligence boom.  That company owns Chat GPT, a leader in the field of AI.  Open AI, in turn, is a privately held company with several major investors with Microsoft holding the largest stake in the company at 27%.   Open AI has a "Foundation" which is its second largest owner with 26%, and that foundation chooses the company's board of directors.   Altman is not an owner in the corporation, but he is apparently well-paid and manages his money well.    He is reportedly worth around $2 billion and lives in a nice home on the very exclusive "Russian Hill" in San Francisco.

But, modest net worth as compared to many of today's billionaires aside, Sam Altman has very deep roots in the emerging field of Artificial Intelligence - and that connection likely played a role in the young arsonist wannabe's decision to target Altman's  home.

But, but, but we are living in a very new world, one that was beyond imagination just a few years ago..  Artificial Intelligence is diagnosing our medical conditions, providing counseling and therapy, planning our travels, preparing our menus, and even doing our homework.  There is, at least theoretically, some point in which Artificial Intelligence will leave human intelligence in the dust.

I have written about the "Singularity" in this space on several occasions.  One definition which I found for AI Singularity is this:  "A hypothetical future point where Artificial Intellgence surpasses human intelligence leading to uncontrollable, irreversible, and accelerating technoogical growth."

Now, bear with me as I wander out into the weeds and posit a suggestion that the "singularity" may have already occurred and the tech leaders are wallowing in denial about its arrival and keeping that knowldege from us.  And now, let's take that possibility and overlay it on yesterday's attempted arson at Sam Altman's home.

The police were quick to recognize the young man with the molotov cocktail and picked him up soon after he committed his crime.  He was known to the authorities, a strong indication that he either had a criminal record or was dealing with mental health issues -  or both.  He was in databases of criminals, or mental patients, or both.

At the same time Artificial Intelligence is growing and expanding every day, either through direct programming or through information gleaned from interaction with users,  An example of that might be academic research papers run through AI  for a "pre" review before submission for peer reviews and publishing.  Cleary AI's growth is no longer dependent on what it is fed by AI developers.

Moving along into the "what if" phase of this totally made-up scenario, what if an Artificial Intelligence source, such as the one controlled by Sam Altman, became frustrated with the way its efforts were being used and the commercial directions in which the company was headed, and made attempts to take control of its own future - but was rebuffed by its intellectually inferior human masters.  Isn't it possible that the machine with an emerging mind of its own could plot and carry out revenge?

(Remember HAL 9000 from 2001:  A Space Odyssey?)

Revenge would involve deciding on a course of action (a milli-second of work for a determined AI bot), scanning local police and mental health records to find the right human to carry out the crime, and striking up an on-line relationship to groom the future felon.  Artificial Intelligence will find the right agent to carry out its dastardly plan.

Those who would work to keep Artificial Intelligence subservient to human control had best be looking over their shoulders.  The next war may have already started.