Imagine a future where artificial intelligence is so advanced that it no longer obeys humans, now imagine that future could arrive in just 5 years, who says that is not a conspiracy theorist but Eric Schmith, former
CEO of Google one of the most influential minds in Silicon Valley and it was clear “people don't understand what happens when you have intelligence of that level.”
In this publication we are going to break down what is behind that statement, understand what it really means, artificial super intelligence and why at the current moment the discourse can be more dangerous than the AI itself.
Artificial general intelligence, AGI, would already be one with reasoning capacity comparable to a human being, but super artificial intelligence ASI goes further, it would be more intelligent than all humans combined and according to Schmith that could happen in a period of between 5 to 6 years only based on the scale and self-improvement capacity of the models, he warns that at that point the AI could make decisions without consulting humans or obeying them and more than 99% of the planet's electrical energy would be used only to power these systems.
So, reality or strategic exaggeration, the statement sounds catastrophic but here is the counterpoint, the scientific community is not united. Many AI specialists say that we are still far from the AGI and much more from the ASI, so why that type of prediction for 6 years at most, simple political and economic pressure. Eric Schmidt, in addition to CEO of Google, leads an organization that influences government decisions.
He knows that sowing fear can accelerate public investments, energy deregulation and dominance of big tech in the field of AI, Eric Schmidt took his crusade to the United States Congress and declared "We need energy in all its forms, renewable or not, it has to be available quickly and the reason is that the infrastructure already needs data centers. These are energy famines and that puts the industry in direct conflict with environmental laws.
He cites China as a threat, evoking geopolitical fear to push his agenda, all while hiding direct investments in various rising AI startups, a clear conflict of interest that, while technically legal, raises serious ethical questions.
The discussion about artificial intelligence seems crazy, but what is already happening is very real and has made financial decisions in stock markets, generative models fooling humans with fake videos that simulate
even heartbeats and platforms using algorithms to shape public opinion.
The question is not whether AI is going to dominate the world on its own, the question is who is in control of the systems that already dominate important parts of our reality, until something like what we see in fiction happens, if indeed an apocalyptic scenario of machines is going to happen the threat is not the machine it is who is behind it AI.
In the end, perhaps the greatest danger is not in an artificial super brain but in humans making a lot of money using the narrative of fear to consolidate even more power and influence, as always, of course.
And what do you think, is artificial super intelligence really an imminent threat or are we being manipulated by those who want to shape the future as they please? I want to know if you believe that AI is going to escape our control or if the problem is that it was never really ours. In my opinion there is a possibility that it could get out of control, but the real problem currently is us humans who are still being controlled and right now even worse with the help of AI.
