14.1 AI on the Rise
287
14.1.2 Singularity
So, was Google about to give birth to a digital God—or had done so already?
6
Those believing in the “singularity”
7 and AI as “our final invention”
8 already saw
the days of humans counted. “Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution,
couldn’t compete and would be superseded,” said the world-famous physicist Stephen
Hawking (1942–2018).
9 Elon Musk (*1971) warned: “We should be very careful
about Artificial Intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is,
it’s probably that.”
10 Bill Gates (*1955) stated he was “in the camp that is concerned
about super intelligence”.
11 And Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (*1950) asked:
“Will we be the Gods? Will we be the family pets? Or will we be ants that get stepped
on?”
12 AI pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber (*1963) wants to be the father of the first
superintelligent robot and appears to believe that we would be like cats, shortly after
the singularity happens.
13 Sofia, the female humanoid robot, who is now counted as
a citizen of Saudi Arabia, seems to see things similarly.
14
Therefore, it is time to ask the question, what will happen with humans and
humanity after the singularity? There are different views on this. Schmidhuber claims
superintelligent robots will be as little interested in humans as we are in ants, but this
does, of course, not mean we would not be in a competition for material resources
with them. Others believe the next wave of automation will make millions or even
billions unemployed. Combined with the world’s expected sustainability crisis (i.e.
predicted shortage of certain resources), this is not good news. Billions of humans
6 Google as God? Opportunities and Risks of the Information Age (April 11, 2013) https://
arxiv.org/abs/1304.3271; Google and the Birth of a Digital God? The Globalist (December
25, 2017) https://www.theglobalist.com/google-artificial-intelligence-big-data-technology-future/;
Dirk Helbing, The Birth of a Digital God? (October 21, 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BgoU3koKmTg.
7 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity.
8 Barrat [1].
9 Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence Could End Mankind (December 2, 2014) https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity.
10 Elon Musk: Artificial Intelligence Is Our Biggest Existential Threat, The Guardian (October
27, 2014) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/27/elon-musk-artificial-intelligenceai-biggest-existential-threat.
11 Microsoft’s Bill Gates Insists AI Is A Threat, BBC (January 29, 2015) https://www.bbc.com/
news/31047780.
12 Steve Wozniak on AI: Will we be pets or mere ants to be squashed [by] our robot overloards? Computerworld (March 25, 2015) https://www.computerworld.com/article/2901679/stevewozniak-on-ai-will-we-be-pets-or-mere-ants-to-be-squashed-our-robot-overlords.html.
13 Künstliche Intelligenz: Werden wir für sie wie Katzen sein? Frankfurter Allgemeine (November
30, 2017) https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/kuenstliche-intelligenz-maschinen-ueb
erwinden-die-menschheit-15309705.html; Jürgen Schmidhuber: „Die Geschichte wird nicht mehr
von Menschen dominiert“ NZZ am Sonntag (October 21, 2017) https://nzzas.nzz.ch/gesellschaft/
juergen-schmidhuber-geschichte-wird-nicht-mehr-von-menschen-dominiert-ld.1322558.
14 When Asked With Sophia Robot „Are Humans Necessary” (March 9, 2019) https://www.you
tube.com/watch?v=ntMy2wk4aFg.
287
14.1.2 Singularity
So, was Google about to give birth to a digital God—or had done so already?
6
Those believing in the “singularity”
7 and AI as “our final invention”
8 already saw
the days of humans counted. “Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution,
couldn’t compete and would be superseded,” said the world-famous physicist Stephen
Hawking (1942–2018).
9 Elon Musk (*1971) warned: “We should be very careful
about Artificial Intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is,
it’s probably that.”
10 Bill Gates (*1955) stated he was “in the camp that is concerned
about super intelligence”.
11 And Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (*1950) asked:
“Will we be the Gods? Will we be the family pets? Or will we be ants that get stepped
on?”
12 AI pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber (*1963) wants to be the father of the first
superintelligent robot and appears to believe that we would be like cats, shortly after
the singularity happens.
13 Sofia, the female humanoid robot, who is now counted as
a citizen of Saudi Arabia, seems to see things similarly.
14
Therefore, it is time to ask the question, what will happen with humans and
humanity after the singularity? There are different views on this. Schmidhuber claims
superintelligent robots will be as little interested in humans as we are in ants, but this
does, of course, not mean we would not be in a competition for material resources
with them. Others believe the next wave of automation will make millions or even
billions unemployed. Combined with the world’s expected sustainability crisis (i.e.
predicted shortage of certain resources), this is not good news. Billions of humans
6 Google as God? Opportunities and Risks of the Information Age (April 11, 2013) https://
arxiv.org/abs/1304.3271; Google and the Birth of a Digital God? The Globalist (December
25, 2017) https://www.theglobalist.com/google-artificial-intelligence-big-data-technology-future/;
Dirk Helbing, The Birth of a Digital God? (October 21, 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BgoU3koKmTg.
7 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity.
8 Barrat [1].
9 Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence Could End Mankind (December 2, 2014) https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity.
10 Elon Musk: Artificial Intelligence Is Our Biggest Existential Threat, The Guardian (October
27, 2014) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/27/elon-musk-artificial-intelligenceai-biggest-existential-threat.
11 Microsoft’s Bill Gates Insists AI Is A Threat, BBC (January 29, 2015) https://www.bbc.com/
news/31047780.
12 Steve Wozniak on AI: Will we be pets or mere ants to be squashed [by] our robot overloards? Computerworld (March 25, 2015) https://www.computerworld.com/article/2901679/stevewozniak-on-ai-will-we-be-pets-or-mere-ants-to-be-squashed-our-robot-overlords.html.
13 Künstliche Intelligenz: Werden wir für sie wie Katzen sein? Frankfurter Allgemeine (November
30, 2017) https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/kuenstliche-intelligenz-maschinen-ueb
erwinden-die-menschheit-15309705.html; Jürgen Schmidhuber: „Die Geschichte wird nicht mehr
von Menschen dominiert“ NZZ am Sonntag (October 21, 2017) https://nzzas.nzz.ch/gesellschaft/
juergen-schmidhuber-geschichte-wird-nicht-mehr-von-menschen-dominiert-ld.1322558.
14 When Asked With Sophia Robot „Are Humans Necessary” (March 9, 2019) https://www.you
tube.com/watch?v=ntMy2wk4aFg.