America Counting On Ignorant, Inattentive President To Save Us From Rogue AI

The president seems more familiar with AI’s ability to create juvenile memes than its potential dangers.

Senior White House Correspondent, HuffPost

As artificial intelligence experts warn that the technology left unchecked could wipe out humanity, America will be looking to a profoundly ignorant protector who believes rainfall in Canada flows “down” to California, that wind turbines cause cancer and who once suggested that computers are too easily hacked and US intelligence agencies should go back to using couriers.

“I am the Hoax Buster, and I’m right now breaking another Hoax — That AI is going to take over, consume, and destroy the World, and that Robots will be marching into our Cities, and getting rid of us all!” President Donald Trump wrote on Monday, one in a string of recent attacks against those pushing for an industry slowdown to allow time for safeguards to catch up.

“It certainly doesn’t inspire me with confidence, when I see his tweets,” said Malo Bourgon, head of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a group that has for years been warning of AI’s potential risks.

Indeed, Trump’s demonstrated ignorance about technology, his seeming certainty that AI is a contest that can have but one winner, and his overall antipathy toward international agreements that would be necessary to rein in AI globally may together make him uniquely unsuited to deal with the potentially apocalyptic threat the new technology presents.

Trump’s White House did not respond to HuffPost queries on the matter.

Leading AI executives have been more upfront about the potential problems in recent days, with many calling for a slowdown to ensure that new AI “agents,” as they are known, can be better controlled and prevented from inflicting incidental or even intentional harm against humans.

“They include the risk of losing control of AI systems, misuse of AI for cyberattacks and bioterrorism, and serious economic disruption. A race to the bottom, spurred by commercial incentives, can make these risks more acute,” wrote Dario Amodei, head of........

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