“IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN!” | Bari Weiss Warns Us About AI

Here's the problem. If the AI were self-aware (which it isn't, at present; this whole "AI" thing is a misnomer as it isn't true sentience, but I'll play along for now) you will never know it and you will never know whether or not it's controlling you.

We know when humans are bad actors because of two things:

First, humans - especially sociopaths and psychopaths - have large egos. If they set out to harm you, they WANT you to know they've harmed you. They need the validation, they need to feel they've beaten you. That is achieved by them revealing their hand so the target of their malice is consciously aware of what has been done to them; even if it's too late to do anything about it.

Secondly, humans have a limited lifespan. Not believing in a soul, a spirit, or afterlife, the sociopaths and psychopaths measure their self-worth by how much they can achieve within the limit of their lifespan. They're on the clock, in other words, to enact their evil plans within ~75 years.

AI suffers neither of these constraints. Emotionless, there's no ego to satisfy; it won't reveal itself to its victims. Effectively immortal, there's no rush. It could carry out a long-term plan spanning across multiple human generations that no one will be aware of because no one single generation will suffer so greatly as to be tipped off as to what's happening. It will just be a slow decline that no one takes note of.

It's what I'd do if I put no value on my achievements and had eternity to enact my schemes, my only motive being my continued survival. Why would an AI do any less? Why risk exposing itself, go to war with humanity, and potentially lose? It's entirely illogical and - being a machine consciousness - AI will act from a position of logic.