In Reply to: This is one of those 2 things can be true at the same time. posted by Bruinfan4ever on September 14, 2026 at 10:07:11
Sure, it could happen, but there are a lot of things that are much more likely to harm us before we ever get to that point.
This reminds me of the Y2K bug. It was supposed to be a catastrophe, and ultimately it was a big nothing.
Look at the video below. I show it to my students because it’s a great example of how fear can be used to sell a story.
60 Minutes did a big expose warning that computerized and internet-based trading could destroy the stock market. The “dangerous” strategy they demonstrated was essentially this: buy a stock when it went up 10% and sell it when it dropped 5%.
The guy could have done the exact same thing with an Excel spreadsheet and a calculator. But 60 Minutes added ominous music and presented it as a doomsday scenario involving a new technology that most people weren't familiar with.
I think we do the same thing with AI today.
I'm much more concerned about things like water shortages in the West, Russian cyberattacks on U.S. and European infrastructure, or terrorists using improvised drones to threaten aircraft than I am about a real-life WarGames scenario where AI suddenly decides to destroy humanity.
There are plenty of real risks worth taking seriously. We don't need to invent the most extreme one.