Negligent Suicide

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last Thursday I used this space to amplify a warning from a serious researcher in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) who had resigned his research position with Anthropic in order to alert the inhabitants of our planet about the dangers of this rapidly developing technology. That researcher was a young man named Jacob Coxon, and the critical point of his warning was a statement that he and other AI researchers believed the superintelligence they were helping to create was already slipping beyond human control  - and that it had the potential to bring about the end of human life on Earth by the close of this decade - December 31, 2029 - just over 1,200 days from now.

Mr. Coxon had my attention, full force, and I tried to convey my concern, and certainly his, in a post on Thursday that was titled:  "A Serious End-Times Prophet Emerges."  He was on the national news programs this past Sunday where he described artificial intelligence as being an alien we have invited into our lives whose alien intelligence we do not yet understand.  It might be beneficial, it might be deadly, or it may bring about consequences we are unable to imagine, good or bad.

Over the course of the next few days, three tech industry CEO's whose companies are working on developing AI spoke in agreement with Jacob Coxon's dire prediction, and each of the three urged that research be slowed on artificial intelligence until guardrails can be put in place which would offer protections for humanity.  Those concerned tech CEOs were Dario Amodei of Anthropic (the company Jacob Coxon had worked for most recently), Sam Altman who runs OpenAI (whom Coxon had worked for in the past), and Elon Musk of SpaceXAI, three widely accepted leaders in the field.

But there is another side to that equation, some influential individuals who are urging full-speed-ahead in AI research.   They portray the Chinese as the AI bogeymen and wail that we MUST NOT let China get ahead of us in the field of artificial intelligence.   Their warnings certainly presage a feeling that the ultimate future of AI is being planned in military aspirations.

Chief among those trying to keep American AI research racing at breakneck speed is, not surprisingly, Donald Trump, a man who is easily inf'luenced by his rich and powerful friends.  In a social media post yesterday, Trump essentially told America and the world that we should not worry about the ultimate impact of artificial intelligence because he (Trump) would protect us.  His posting began with the following insane comment:

"The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (HIGH IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!"

Well, praise white Jesus and pass the gravy because we are saved!  Donald Trump, the flippin' genius who gave us gas at over four dollars a gallon and diesel over six, hamburger averaging beyond seven dollars a pound, "dumb" with a "b," "Sharpie" weather maps, and a trade war with Canada is going to be the high sheriff of AI Town.  And while he may not be able to actually control AI (or anything else for that matter), goddamn he will have a purty office!

In Trump's crazy missive about artificial intelligence, he went on to say:

"The Trump administration has stopped AI "people" from doing bad, or potentially bad, 'things' like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a 'perfect little angel' - and we will continue to do so!    We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!   There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one who is happy about it is China.  WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!  We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.  Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!  Thank you for your attention to this matter!  President Donald J. Trump"

The man is unwell.   It would be interesting to learn who has his ear on artificial intelligence - and what they do to incite and reward his interest.

Counting on Donald Trump to protect us from the lethal risks of artificial intelligence (AI) goes well beyond just being stupid, it is downright suicidal!