– Tech elite demands research stop in AI laboratories
Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Yuval Noah Harari want to take control of technology. But the admonishers are pursuing their own interests.
Jannis Bruehl
In science fiction, there is this one crucial moment: the last chance to stop machines from becoming as intelligent as humans. In the “Terminator” film series, which began in the 1980s, that moment comes just before 2:14 am on August 29, 1997. That’s when the artificial intelligence (AI) called Skynet develops consciousness, triggers nuclear war and enslaves humanity. When viewed soberly, such science fiction visions do not fit the current boom in AI applications – in reality, artificial intelligence can only fake half-baked images and write mediocre texts. Nevertheless, the fear that machines might dominate people apparently drives the elite of the tech industry.