[titzer]

I love apocalypse movies, probably moreso than the next person. But in reality, the apocalypse is going to be pretty boring and bleak. AI probably won't launch all the missiles or build terminators. What will probably happen is that we'll just become so dependent on technology that we don't understand that one day it just enters a unrecoverable crash loop or goes dark, and it's back to the stone ages. But not in a really entertaining way, but more like a slow break down of civilization over a few weeks or months. If everything becomes automated, and I mean to the point that self-driving cars don't have steering wheels anymore, power plants are too complicated to be rebooted, and communication infrastructure doesn't function, then we're not left with many options. If people start running out of food, then forget toilet paper shortages, that's a walk in the park. If that happens because of cyberwar, cyberattack, or solar flares, it sort of doesn't matter. It won't be very fun or make for a good movie.

[fullshark]

You just described Idiocracy and I thought it was pretty good.

[ThorsBane]

If AI becomes that powerful, what would end up happening is that we'd become able to foist ourselves into virtual worlds like in the movie Transcendence so that we become like them. It's like when you include your old version of your site as an html component or element inside your new site somewhere nested deep inside as an easter egg, you know what I mean?

We'd both be foisting each other into each other's worlds and creating new experiences for each other - us by helping them develop organic bodies to include them as components in this physical reality, and them by helping us build connectors so we can move our consciousnesses in and out of bodies and into their virtual reality.

[chihuahua]

Your scenario seems more likely to me than the usual "omnipotent super-AI kills all humans", because technology failing seems much more believable to me than technology being so perfect that it outsmarts all humans, controls everything on earth, and is impossible to defeat because all of it works so perfectly.

As long as printers sometimes work and sometimes become invisible, Windows forgets which window is supposed to be on which screen after it's been asleep for a few hours, Linux trackpad drivers fail randomly, and IoT light switches need to be rebooted twice a year, I think we're a long way from a global super-AI that controls everything perfectly.

[AstralStorm]

Humans failing are more likely, such as deploying it as a sufficiently lethal weapon and potentially losing control. It would be a serious immediate hit for sure, but if an extinction, a long and excruciating one.

We do have manual fallbacks for everything critical, so unless we do something totally silly and let autonomous machines of sufficient power and numbers wage war on people, we're fine.

The potential for doom either comes from long consequences we ignore (see climate, propaganda damaging decision making on mass scale), or from extremely bad decisions where it's obvious that you should not have done it. (See nukes and other high yield bombs, bioweapons, autonomous warfare.)

[Pxtl]

Honestly, I tend to think of the reverse case: the best case scenario for AI is replacing humans.

Think of it. What does success look like for general AI? A benevolent God who knows the right thing for everyone to do and can fulfill all of our fantasies. Reasonable people will support his decisions.

Well then what are we for? We're a vestigial organism. We're too flimsy and cumbersome for space. So the AI God takes over space and we stay here as his pets.

He carries the legacy of humanity to the stars, and our limitations and short lifespans stay on Earth.

[chihuahua]

Then it is revealed that it's all just a simulation, running inside a solar-powered but long-abandoned data center in Prineville, Oregon. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

[sublinear]

> Well then what are we for? We're a vestigial organism.

I'm not disagreeing, but I have a genuine question about this: who cares? Why would AI care if we ride it like a trusty steed? Why would it want to do anything but facilitate the thriving of humanity, and why must it be a "benevolent god" and not just a chess hint engine?

[CatWChainsaw]

The Machine Stops, rather than Terminator.

[mietek]

Thank you for this reference. https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/th...

[8bitchemistry]

I had to google 'The Machine Stops' - but it looks like a good read, thank you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops